A Thousand Years
by fromciarawithlove
Summary: Sam Evans is in love with Rachel Berry, but she's about to marry Finn. Can he stop her from making the biggest mistake of her life? Or will he lose the woman he loves forever?
1. Prologue

_A Thousand Years_

_Present Day _

You know it's strange isn't it; you can hear a sentence so many times and never really believe it until the day comes when you are forced to deal with the reality of the words that have been said to you.

Today was that day.

Sam Evans felt as if his tie was choking his neck as he waited to go into the restaurant that held the night he had been dreading for so long. He felt uncomfortable and overdressed in his suit as he leant against the wall of the building.

"What's up with you Evans?" Noah Puckerman, ever eloquent, asked.

Sam looked down at the ground sullenly before shrugging at his best friend "Nothing" he mumbled, it was a so much of a lie that it actually hurt Sam's throat to say the words.

Puck gave him a disbelieving look "If you say so" he replied "You wanna drink?" he asked pulling a hip flask from his jacket pocket and offering it to Sam.

Sam wasn't usually a massive drinker but tonight he really felt as if he needed one. The liquor burnt the inside of his mouth and caused him to wince at its strength, one sip was probably enough to get him more wasted than he wanted to be. If he didn't keep a level head he wasn't sure what he'd do.

"Evening boys, you both look handsome" Quinn Fabray commented, looking effervescent in a sparkling pink gown that fell to the ground. It couldn't be denied that Quinn was hot, if not beautiful.

"You look beautiful Quinn" Sam told her, a smile forming on his lips.

Puck was practically shoving his eyes back in his head as he nodded at what he described as the former love of his life. "Yeh, you really do Quinn" he said giving her his signature smirk, that smirk was like breathing for Puck, necessary to stay alive. If only because it stopped women from murdering him.

Quinn smiled "So... anyone else totally dreading this?" she asked, her tone light, but that was a hint of seriousness to it.

Sam didn't reply but he knew that question was directed at him. Was it that obvious that he still had _those_ feelings? Those feelings he'd had to hide for most of the last year and a half. Who knew high school was going to be this hard?

"Come on, you can walk me in boys" Quinn told them winking, clearly unaffected by the history she had shared with boys that she was now linking arms with.

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><p>Evidently tonight was going to be a classy affair, the room was dressed to perfection, and it was evident that no one other than the bride could have designed it. It had a Broadway theme, some people might have found that strange for a rehearsal dinner but Sam knew that this was perfect. Well expect for one thing.<p>

The evening was definitely strange, a bunch of high school kids acting as if they were adults. It was peculiar that was for sure. If the rest of the glee club thought this was weird and they were just guests, how could the happy couple be feeling?

Sam found himself seated next to Mercedes Jones, a former flame (not that he got around or anything). It was nice to sit next to her, they had moved on since they'd been together the year before this one. He could tell that she also found the idea of a high school wedding a little difficult to accept, her ambition for herself far outweighed her need for a man in her life.

"You look gorgeous 'Cedes" Sam told her quietly as he sat down beside her, his arm hanging languidly on the back of her chair. Mercedes had adorned a midnight blue dress that hugged her body in all the right places, and wore her deep brown hair loose and curly. Just the way Sam had liked it.

Mercedes gave him a 100 watt grin "Why thank you Sam" she said "You're looking pretty tasty yourself right now" she informed him playfully.

Sam grinned, talking to Mercedes was always so easy, whether they were a couple or not. Mercedes was definitely Sam's closest female friend and he was glad that he was sitting with her tonight. He needed the moral support.

He could feel his mouth get drier and his stomach tighten as the time ticked by, it was getting closer and closer to when the bride and groom would be arriving. His hand was clenched tightly around a napkin that had been lying in front of him. Anything to distract himself from what was about to happen.

Kurt Hummel ran onto the stage, his usual enthusiasm shining through his smile as he shhhed everyone. "Now, I may have had problems accepting this union to begin with, but now I could not be happier in presenting my best friends, amazing duet partners, and most importantly the bride and groom; Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson!" Kurt shouted into the microphone as the room erupted into applause and the odd 'whoop' here and there.

Sam tightened his grip on his napkin as he tried to pretend that hearing those names with an and between them didn't cut into his heart like a knife through the stomach. He actually wanted to die, or throw up, or something that would force the pain from inside him to go somewhere else, anywhere else. That drink had not helped; in fact it just seemed to intensify the pain that was bounding around inside him.

Mercedes turned to him "Are you okay Sam?" she asked him, her voice held a tone that was mixture of sweetness and concern as she placed her hand on his arm.

Sam nodded slowly "Of course I am. Its fine, it's not like I didn't know they were getting married" he replied, his voice was strangled by his heart knowing that he was lying.

Mercedes gave him a look of understanding "Sam. I know that you aren't exactly handling this very well. But they _love _each other they really do" she didn't say that to be malicious Sam knew that, but it didn't mean that the truth still didn't suck.

"I know" he told her "That's why I'm still sitting here" he explained as he loosened his tie and tried to avoid looking at the stage.

He couldn't force his gaze away for long though as he saw her. Rachel Berry, she wore a simple black dress, that framed her figure exquisitely. It had lace detailing across her chest, and a pleated skirt that feel just to her knee. The dress was sexy but remained classy. She wore heels that raised her up to the height that would have made it easy for Sam to press a kiss onto her forehead. Her dark brown hair fell straight down hair back, her fringe pushed away from her face showing off her beauty to not just the room but the entire world.

Sam swallowed as he tried to remain composed. Shit. He needed a drink. "I'm going to the bar" he told Mercedes who gave him a worried look but didn't say anything.

Sam leant against the bar, and felt a pair of lips press into his cheek.

"Trouty mouth" the slick dulcet tones of Santana Lopez filled his ears. "You look happy" she murmured quietly with a hint of sarcasm, a smirk was hidden vaguely behind what was supposed to be a sincere smile.

Sam gave her a look "Do you want a drink Santana?" he asked ignoring what she had said.

Santana nodded "Always" she replied her lips forming their natural pout. "Is Brittany here yet?" she asked, her façade faltering a little bit as she talked about the girl that everyone knew she was in love with in spite of the fact she had failed to admit it.

"I haven't seen her yet" Sam replied honestly. "I'm sure she's coming" he added as if to reassure Santana.

Santana returned to her pouting expression "I know she will" she replied forcefully, as if she wasn't asking because she really cared, just out of indistinct interest.

"What can I get you?" the bartender asked. He looked as if he would definitely want ID. Sam wondered if the guy was gay and if he could flirt his way to getting served but then he recalled who was standing beside him, someone who could even turn a gay man straight. Santana.

Santana already had her game face on "Hi" she said, her voice taking on a husky tone not dissimilar to one of those that you would hear if you dialled a certain phone number. Not that Sam had ever needed to call one of those.

The bartender blinked at her "We would like two vodka and tonics. They sort of need to be double as well" she told him, leaning against the bar so that her boobs started to spill out of her dress. She never ceased to amaze Sam.

The bartender grinned "Sure. On the house" he told her, as he went to prepare the drinks his face flushed.

Sam raised an eyebrow at Santana who just shrugged "If you're going to look like this, then you may as well use to your advantage" she said simply "Besides if it had been a girl serving, you would have been pouting those pretty lips of yours and tensing your biceps" she said giving him a look that told him that she knew she was right.

Sam smiled "Whatever. I'm just thankful for the drink" he muttered.

Santana looked at him "Man hands, I don't know how she does it. What is about that mini Streisand that manages to attract so many guys?" she asked not really expecting Sam to answer.

"She's different, she's special" Sam whispered into his glass before taking a long drink.

* * *

><p>Finn Gangly Hudson had taken to the stage, whoever thought giving him a microphone was a good idea was obviously more drunk than Sam. He had a stupidly happy grin on his face that made Sam just want to hit him. There was a time he and Finn had been friends, that was long over now. They just rubbed each other up the wrong way, so kept their distance most of the time.<p>

"I just want to thank you all for coming tonight" Finn bleated into the microphone. "And I'd like to dedicate this song to my beautiful fiancé" he added projecting a lame smile in Rachel's direction. Sam couldn't see her face, but he hoped she thought this was a cheesy as he did.

Sam hadn't realised there would be singing as well. Fantastic. He had been drinking steadily for about an hour now and was well on the road to being totally off of his face. That still didn't stop him for feeling though, what drink was going to do that he wondered. This led him to seek out Puck for another swig from the flask.

Puck gave his friend a look that said that he thought this was bad idea "Are you sure, you smell pretty ripe already" he told him with a slight frown creasing his forehead.

Sam raised his arms in an 'I don't care' sort of fashion "I'm sure, Puckerman" he replied his words only slightly slurred.

Puck handed him the flask as the first notes of the song started. Sam took a large gulp not noticing the burning sensation quite as much the second time around.

_I see trees of green, red roses too  
>I see them bloom for me and you<br>And I think to myself what a wonderful world.  
><em>

Sam felt as though he was going to throw up, and it wasn't because of the drink.

_I see skies of blue and clouds of white  
>The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night<br>And I think to myself what a wonderful world.  
><em>

The world was definitely not feeling wonderful to Sam right now.

_The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky  
>Are also on the faces of people going by<br>I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do  
>They're really saying I love you.<br>_

It would be a miracle if Sam didn't laugh out loud at this song choice. He started walking towards the door.

_I hear babies crying, I watch them grow  
>They'll learn much more than I'll never know<br>And I think to myself what a wonderful world  
>Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world.<em>

Sam stood just outside the restaurant his head pounding, maybe from the drink, maybe from the hurt, he wasn't even sure anymore. He leant against the cold bricks outside, trying to hold back tears that were full of the dark bitterness he had been holding inside for so long.

"Sam" his heart literally started beating faster, as if it needed twice as much work to even hold a conversation with Rachel now.

"Rachel" he replied, he spoke slowly. He really didn't want her to think that he gotten drunk at one of the most important nights of her life. He never wanted Rachel to think badly of him.

She leant against the wall beside him, her arm almost touching his "It's kind of stuffy in there" she remarked casually, letting a breath out that she seemed to have been holding in for a long time.

Sam wondered if she meant that it was warm, or this whole occasion was stuffy and uncomfortable. That it was all too much to take in one dose "Yeh I guess" he mumbled carefully.

Rachel stared at her him, the dark brown of her eyes burning into him where he stood. "Do you think I should be doing this?" she asked him quietly, her eyes becoming watery.

Sam looked down at her, how could she actually be asking _him_ this, of all the people that she could have asked. Her entire family was in that room, all of her best friends, everyone she loved and cared about, and she chose to ask Sam. Was it because she knew that he thought she shouldn't be doing it. Did she just want someone to tell her what she already knew? That this was mistake and that it was too soon. Or did she just want simple reassurance that this wedding was okay that marrying Finn was the right decision for her. Sam had no clue what Rachel wanted to hear right now and that scared him. Because he wanted to know everything about her, everything about the way she felt and what she wanted her life to be.

To truly understand why Sam couldn't just answer the question, you needed to know a little more about the last year and a half of Sam Evan's life. The year and a half that he had spent loving Rachel Berry, against the odds, and against his own better judgement.

* * *

><p>AN -<p>

Here's a few bits of information to help makes things a little clearer in the story.

This prologue is set in the present, as in right now, before the wedding episode airs. Obviously a lot of things are different in the present in my story. But don't worry the rest of the story will explain how it came to his point, and then we will see what happens in my version of the present.

Also I'm still working on my other story (I've written quite a bit of it now, so I feel ready to start writing this one)

I would love to read some reviews on this as well, because I am really excited for this story, I hope you are too!


	2. September

_Thank you for the reviews! I hope that you enjoy this first flashback which is set in what would have been the episodes Audition and Brittany/Britney.  
><em>

* * *

><p><em>September 2010<em>

Sam Evans was not looking forward to starting a new school, it had been hard enough fitting in Tennessee, what with his stupid blonde hair and his oversized mouth (in the most literal of senses), and the transition from middle school to high school hadn't exactly been smooth. But things would be worse here in Lima, Ohio, he'd never been to a mixed school before and no idea how to talk to girls, let alone date them. His impressions may have won over friends at his old school but he doubted they would here.

He stepped off the big yellow school bus, his backpack slung over one shoulder as he kept his head down and walked in through the school doors. Already the entire corridor was buzzing with people. His fellow class mates, Sam tried to detract attention from himself by keeping his eyes glued to the floor, it was working until he walked smack bang into someone, that someone was about to change his life.

Rachel Berry, how could you describe Rachel Berry? In a word, crazy, not that it was a bad thing; she just might not have been the first person you wanted to meet on your first day at a new school. Rachel made a shrieking noise as if Sam was a bulldozer crashing into her, an overreaction by any means.

Sam stared at her apologetically "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you" he told her helping her to pick up whatever it was that she dropped on the floor. That was the other thing about an all boys school, pretty much everyone was the same height as you so you didn't need to worry about bumping straight into them.

Rachel smiled at him, the smile that she had been practising since she could lift her own head up. "That's okay" she said brightly, "I am quite small" she added as she put her hand out to shake his. "I'm Rachel Berry" she said her name in a way that made Sam believe that she wanted him to remember meeting Rachel Berry because one day, everyone would know that name.

Sam shook her head "I'm Sam" he replied, nervously, as he handed her back the papers she had dropped.

Rachel gave him a thoughtful look "You should take one of these" she informed him taking one of the sheets of paper and handing it him. Her eyes lingered on his mouth for a second longer that it should have done, he was certainly very handsome in that surfer sort of way that a lot of girls like. Rachel smiled "See you around Sam!" she said happily as she walked past him and started to fix her bits of yellow paper to any available bit of wall space.

Sam stared at what she had just handed him "Glee club" he said under his breath. Sam wasn't exactly sure what a _glee club_ was, but he had a feeling it wasn't going to help his non existent reputation at school. In spite of that feeling, he also had the vaguest hope that maybe he'd see Rachel again, although perhaps a little over enthused about life, she was cute.

It wasn't long before Sam forgot about the whole glee club thing anyway. He had a load of work to catch up from summer just gone. He had about ten books to read, which would have been fine if he didn't have dyslexia which made reading a far so slower process for him. He sighed as placed his books into his practically empty beige coloured locker.

Sam headed out into the courtyard for lunch and sat a table with a bunch of strangers, it was beyond awkward but it wasn't as if he had much of a choice. He was thankful he'd brought his lunch from home because the schools selection of meals did not look appetizing. He flipped open one of the books he was meant to have read during summer break and was surprised to hear the opening bars of Empire State of Mind blaring into the courtyard.

Was this normal here? Were there often impromptu musical performances during the lunch break? Sam wrinkled his face in confusion, but as Rachel Berry came down the stairs, he realised that this must be the glee club. The other kids were all looking disinterested but Sam couldn't stop his foot tapping along to the beat and a grin spreading over his face as he listened to them sing. They were pretty awesome and there appeared to be some pretty hot girls in the group. Sam had always been a singer, but usually just at home while he played his guitar, maybe he could get on board with this whole glee club idea.

Sam had noticed that glee club may not be as cool as it seemed, none of the other kids paid any attention to them even though they were obviously working extremely hard. But Sam did know that one definite way to become popular at school was to join the football team. Tryouts had been pretty hard work and the coach fittingly called Bieste was definitely a hard ass. Sam was sweating profusely as he made his way off the field and into the locker room. He stripped down and headed for the block of showers. He let the tepid water run over his body for a few seconds before starting to actually wash himself. Before he even realised it his was singing – Every Rose Has It's Thorn. Little did Sam know that Finn Hudson who was not only quarterback but lead male of the New Directions had been listening on the other side of the shower door.

* * *

><p>Finn knew that he needed Sam to audition for glee; he had seen him tapping his foot to the music and smiling. If they didn't get back to the required number of tweleve students before sectionals this years competition season would be dead before it even got started. He also knew that Sam was unfamiliar to the way people in glee club were viewed at McKinley high. This could only be a good thing.<p>

He approached Sam at his locker with his wing man Artie in tow "Hey Sam" he said wheeling Artie over so that he was standing besides Sam's locker.

Sam gave him a quizzical look, he was a little surprised that Finn Hudson was even speaking to him, he was after all one of the most popular guys in school.

"My names Finn" he said putting his hand out and shaking Sam's. "And this here's Artie" Artie waved obtusely from where he was.

Sam felt a little nervous "I know who you are. You're the quarterback" he replied bobbing his head anxiously.

Finn nodded "Exactly" he said "Which makes me very cool" he added pointing at Sam. Finn smiled at him "And we'd like to talk to you about glee club."

Sam smiled a little confused but didn't say anything.

* * *

><p>Sam wasn't sure he should be doing this, but it wasn't like it was an official audition or anything he was just singing with the guys from the glee club. There was Noah Puckerman, the obvious bad boy, with a Mohawk and a criminal record. Artie Abram a surprisingly ghetto guy, that wore glasses and was in a wheelchair, Mike Chang, who appeared to have no bones when he danced, something that Sam couldn't help but feel envious of. Then there was Finn, Sam knew that he was the quarterback and he'd also just learned that he was Rachel's boyfriend. Finn was the type of guy that thought he was a lot cooler than he actually was. He was kind of dumb and a little bit self serving. Still Sam wasn't going to judge him on one conversation; well he was going to try not to at least.<p>

The four of them were sitting in front of Sam "So Sam tell us about yourself" Finn commanded casually, as they stared at him.

Sam felt a little awkward "My name's Sam Evans, I like comic books and sports. I'm dyslexic so my grades aren't that good but I'm working on it" he told them, his hands in his pockets.

Puck was staring at him still "Dude your mouth is huge… how many tennis balls can you fit in there?" Puckerman asked starting at Sam's mouth.

Sam looked at him trying not to get embarrassed "I don't know, I've never had any balls in my mouth, have you?" he asked.

Puck smiled, this Sam guy seemed pretty cool if he wasn't honest, so what if his mouth was huge and his hair was kind of gay. He seemed like a pretty cool dude by all respects.

Sam saw Finn whisper something to Artie who whispered something back. Sam wondered if they were talking about him. Obviously they were.

They got to their feet "So you can sing with that big mouth of yours?" Puck asked.

Sam frowned "I've never really sang in front of anybody before" he admitted.

Puck nodded "Dude let me tell you chick's dig singers" he told him cockily, which led Sam to believe that girls really did dig singers.

* * *

><p>Rachel knew that in order to be a good leader of New Directions that she was going to need to pull her weight in the recruiting part of things. Finn already had the Sam guy lined up as his new recruit, so she was going to have find someone too. Rachel had noticed a young Filipino girl looking pretty interested in their performance earlier; this is what led Rachel to seek her out after lunch, she found her in the bathroom.<p>

Rachel smoothed down her immaculately styled hair and approached the girl who appeared to be a few inches shorter than her and Rachel wasn't exactly known for being tall. "Hi. I'm Rachel. Rachel Berry" Rachel said her voice as whiny as it usually was when she was trying to be friendly.

The girl didn't respond and Rachel noticed that she was listening to her I-pod and singing along. Rachel Berry was the only person that should be able to start impromptu performances in the girl's bathroom. This led to an irrational sing off between the pair.

Once they had finished their insane sing off Rachel knew that she couldn't let this girl join glee club, she was too good. The only thing other than dating the quarterback that made Rachel special was the fact that she was the best singer in the entire glee club. She wasn't going to let a girl with a name like 'Sunshine' take that away from her. Rachel knew what she had to do, she needed to get rid of her and stop her from audition – no matter what the consequences.

Later that afternoon Rachel found herself sitting in the principal's office, Mr Figgin's was sitting opposite her looking disinterested in what was clearly a misdemeanour if anything. Mr Schue on the other hand was giving her that look, the look that was loaded with sadness and disillusionment as if you'd kicked a puppy in the face. Rachel wanted to roll her eyes; people were always doing stuff worse than this and getting away with it.

"Rachel" Mr Schuester "How could you do that to an impressionable new student?" he asked, his voice a mixture of surprise and disappointment as he berated her.

Rachel looked down sadly "It was an accident" she told him, trying to seem as innocent as possible. Rachel had 'accidently' given Sunshine the address to a known crack house as opposed to the address of the schools auditorium.

Mr Schuester shook his head "Rachel you sent that poor girl to crack house! You could have gotten her hurt, or killed" he told her. "I'm afraid that this could lead to a suspension" he warned her.

Rachel opened her mouth in surprise "I can't get suspended I have a perfect school record. This could be incredibly damaging to my future" she ranted folding her arms and taking a shaky breath.

Mr Figgin's finally spoke "Well since no damage was done. I don't see the point in punishing Rachel. I'm sure she feels bad enough about the whole incident" he told them both in his usual lack lustre manner.

Rachel nodded furiously "I do. I really do" she told them both, her signature grin coming back to her face.

* * *

><p>Sam was jubilant verging on ecstatic about the news he had just been given. Coach Beiste had just informed him that he was going to be quarterback; apparently she'd dropped Finn because he was trying put her in a awkward position. But honestly Sam didn't care why she had dropped Finn, he only cared that he was going to be the quarterback. Being the quarterback meant instantly popularity and that people would really like him. Reassurance he had needed since he had found out he was moving schools.<p>

He did feel kind of bad though because he'd told Finn that he couldn't join New Directions, it wasn't that he didn't want to join he just knew that if he did he would already have people making fun out of him and he really didn't want that to happen.

Sam was about to feel even worse because Rachel Berry was storming towards him looking particularly angry "Are you the reason that Finn isn't quarter back anymore?" she asked him forcefully pointing a perfectly manicured finger at him.

Sam gave her a look of confusion "No. He was dropped from the team. I didn't _do_ anything" he explained to her, he didn't really even know Rachel but didn't want her to be angry at him.

Rachel narrowed her eyes "But you are quarterback now right?" she asked him.

Sam nodded "Well yeh. But only because the coach dropped Finn" he told her.

She considered that for a second "Fine. But why aren't you joining glee club?" she asked him, her hands were now resting on her hips. She was surprisingly passive aggressive for someone who seemed so cheerful.

Sam gulped "I just don't think that I'm right for glee club. I mean I'm nowhere near as talent as you. Or Finn, or anyone else in the club, besides I really need to focus on school work" Sam ran his fingers through his hair feeling oddly agitated. He kind of wanted her to leave him alone now.

Rachel looked as if she believed the explanation; he obviously couldn't be as talented as her no one was. Even though some people obviously thought they were. Rachel gave him a curt nod "Well if you reconsider just let me know" she told him, her setting back to happy!

Sam stared at her as she walked down the corridor away from him. That girl was crazy. Like beyond crazy. Cute though.

* * *

><p>Okay so that was me trying to stick to what happened in the actual episodes (with added Samchel of course)<p>

As the flashbacks continue they will become more and more au.

Let me know what you think :)


	3. October

_Thank you for the reviews that I got! I really appreciate you taking the time to read the story and let me see your thoughts. _

_Just to make it clear, some scenes are taken straight from the show, this chapter is set in 'Grilled Cheesus' and 'Duets'. Obviously there are small changes to time frames and certain things that happen. _

_Eventually it will take off from the show onto its own path but you'll have to wait a little while longer for that!  
><em>

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><p><em>October 2010 <em>

Today was supposed to have been a good day. He was supposed to be playing his first game as quarterback and winning and getting the whole school to like him. Why couldn't that just happen? Why did bad things happen to good people? Sam cringed in pain as he tried to move his shoulder; it hurt so much he actually thought he might pass out or start to cry.

The only thing worse than the complete agony of the situation was now that he had to go to hospital and Finn would swoop in and take his place and win the game. That would mean that Sam wouldn't be the quarterback anymore and that he'd be back down on the bottom rung of the social ladder.

The next few days of Sam Evan's life passed by at the pace of tortoise with three legs, being at home was supposed to be so much better than school, but he was completely sick of being there already. His mom wouldn't leave him alone, every five seconds she wanted to make sure that his arm was still attached to his body. Sam loved his mom but spending all day every day with her was even a little too much for him.

Some of the guys from the team, including Finn (to Sam's dismay) had come to visit him and make sure he was alright. Health wise he was fine, reputation wise he was that blonde kid whose arm nearly fell off. He was pretty happy to see most of the guys; Puck had brought him a collection of _magazines_ that he said were therapeutic and the others had brought him some comic books. After they left he got a surprising visit from Rachel and another girl who was in the glee club Quinn Fabray.

The pair were looking at each other with pure hatred in their eyes, not only did Sam wonder why they'd come to visit him he also wondered why they had come together if they so obviously didn't like each other.

"Hi Sam" Quinn said as she perched on the end of the bed. Sam was acutely aware of the fact that this was the first time a girl had ever been in his room. Now there were two. He also couldn't help but notice how beautiful Quinn was, it was strange how both she and Rachel could be so beautiful but look so different from one another.

"I'm Quinn Fabray" she told him introducing herself "I'm the head cheerleader" she informed him smiling sweetly. Sam could actually see that Rachel was bursting to make a comment about that.

Sam smiled at her "I know" he told her "I mean I saw you at the game" he clarified; he didn't want to seem like some cheerleader obsessed weirdo.

Rachel moved towards him "How is you arm? It looked like it really hurt" she commented a caring smile on her face.

Sam made a face "It's fine, it doesn't really hurt anymore. I just won't be on the team for a little while I guess" he said sadly looking down.

Quinn patted his leg carefully "I wouldn't worry, its not like the team ever wins anything anyway" she told him shrugging, she was right they did suck.

Rachel shot her a look that told her not to insult the team that her boyfriend was back to being the leader of. "So now that you're aren't going to be playing football anymore, well at least not every game" Rachel said kindly "We wondered if you'd like to join the glee club" she said hopefully, biting her lip in anticipation of his answer.

Sam considered the idea, it wasn't like he was going to be super popular at McKinley anyway, so why not do something that was kind of fun. "Sure. I don't see why not" he mumbled shrugging his one good shoulder.

Rachel gave him a smile that took her up her whole face and Quinn looked marginally happier than she had a second ago. "That's great Sam. Glee is really fun" Quinn told him "Especially when you pretend that Rachel isn't there" she added her tone dry.

Rachel made a disgruntled shrieking sound and folded her arms "Quinn there is no need to be like that" the brunette said "You know now that Finn and I are a proper couple, there really isn't a need to let him get in the way of us being friends" Rachel told Quinn hopefully.

Quinn rolled her eyes "Trust me Finn is not the reason we aren't friends" she replied her pretty face scowling at Rachel.

Rachel shook her head "Well if it's just jealously then…" Quinn looked set to punch Rachel in the face so Sam realised that it would be a good time to defuse the situation.

Sam yawned loudly "Well I am_ really_ tired" he informed them, giving them a smile.

Quinn and Rachel seemed to unclench, "You should get your rest" Rachel told him. "Just call one of us, if you need anything, my number is on the post it on top of the copy of Funny Girl that I brought for you" she told him pointing to his bed side table smiling.

"Bye Sam, see you at school soon" Quinn said as she waved at him.

* * *

><p>Rachel squinted as she tried to avoid the suns glare as she trundled home in her small hatch back, Sam's family lived in a nice neighbourhood not to far from her own, but the journey was still quite difficult because the entire town ran on a one way system, so she'd been sitting in the car for at least fifteen minutes already. Her phone buzzed and she put her Bluetooth on.<p>

"Hello" she trilled through her head set, her eyes fixed on the road.

"It's me" Finn said back to her.

Rachel felt a grin spread across her face without even really trying "Hi Finn" she replied happily.

"Are you driving?" he asked.

Rachel's hands gripped the wheel a little tighter as she turned a corner "Yep. I was just visiting Sam" she told him.

Finn was currently sitting on his bed watching an old basketball match; he frowned at the mention of the name Sam. "You didn't mention that you would be seeing him today" he said coolly.

"Well Quinn and I just decided to go on the spur of the moment. He must be pretty lonely, it's not like he's been at school long enough to make any friends is it?" Rachel told her boyfriend, not understanding why her going to another guy's house would be such a problem. She barely even knew Sam,

Finn was totally confused; Quinn and Rachel were hanging out now? Performing some public service of candy striping around the town? "Right well I just thought we could hang out" he said a little annoyed.

Rachel pulled into her driveway "Sure. I just got home, do you want to come over?" she asked him.

"Yeh sure" he replied, "I'll head over now" Finn told her.

* * *

><p>It was a few days later and Sam had found himself at a loss for what to do that evening; his mom had finally forced him out of his bedroom and into the shower so that they could all got to church together. He'd had great difficulty pulling a t-shirt over his head and had been forced into a dress shirt, because it was the only thing he could get over his arms without making him grunt in pain. Now he was just sitting in his room again, the TV making noises in the background. Sam really wished that he could just be back at school already, Monday was only two days away but it felt like an eternity to him.<p>

He looked at the DVD that was still resting on his bed side table quizzically for a second. He'd read the back of the case and he it hadn't really occurred to him that he should actually watch it. It wasn't really his usual choice of movie, but it was worth a shot since he'd exhausted the rest of the DVD's he owned. He slid the disc in the player and turned the volume up.

Once the film had finished he realised why Rachel liked it so much, it starred Barbra Streisand, a woman Sam didn't exactly know a whole lot about, but he could see that she was the kind of woman that Rachel would look up to. She was Jewish and sang Rain on My Parade. Even though Rachel didn't know him, it must mean a lot for her to lend him a copy of her favourite movie. Sam knew it was her favourite because of the three pages worth of post it notes that had been attached to it. He thought it was really sweet.

He typed her number into his phone and held it to his ear and waited for Rachel to answer.

"Hello" he heard her say warmly "Rachel Berry speaking" she added for good measure, he bit the inside of his mouth to stop himself laughing.

Sam felt himself get a little nervous and cleared his throat "It's Sam" he said quietly.

"Oh hi Sam" she replied "Is everything okay?" she asked him. He'd called right in the middle of her nightly routine; she'd just been giving her face its nightly ice bath as the phone had rang.

Sam felt him self blushing, he didn't even know why he'd even called her "I just wanted to say thanks for the movie you gave me" he told her, that didn't seem too stalker-ish did it?

Rachel beamed at herself in the mirror, she was always so good at cheering people up "Oh you're welcome" she said "It's a great musical isn't it?" Rachel said.

"Um sure, its great" he replied quietly "Anyway I just wanted to say thanks for coming the other day. It was nice to see you" he told her "And Quinn" he lamented. "I'll see you at school on Monday right?" he asked her casually.

"Sure" she answered "I'll see you then. Bye Sam" she said happily, as she heard him say goodbye at the other end of the line before hanging up.

Sam played with this phone for a couple of seconds before putting it back on his beside table. An indelible smile was painted on his face as he started to get changed so that he could go to sleep. He laid down and pulled the duvet up to underneath his neck, he was thoughtful as a he tried to drift to sleep. Just before he did fall asleep he thought of Rachel and he grinned sleepily.

* * *

><p>Sam turned up to school on Monday at least a half hour before he needed to, he'd been told by Mr Schuester that he should get there a little early to talk about joining glee club. He was absolutely exhausted; clearly a couple of weeks away from school didn't make you any less tired when your dad woke you up at six am. Sam yawned as he waited outside Mr Schuester's class room.<p>

"You must be Sam" a man who didn't look all that much older than Sam greeted him. His hair was gelled down into some interesting looking curls so that even Sam with his bad dye job felt he had the right to judge it.

Sam smiled "Yep that's me" he replied as Mr Schuester invited him into the class room.

Mr Schuester smiled at him "So… Finn tells me you're quite the singer and that you play guitar" he said.

Sam nodded "Yeh I've been playing since I was a kid, I guess I'm an okay singer" he replied shrugging a little embarrassed.

Mr Schue nodded "Well come by after school, we meet just after the bell and we can introduce you to everyone then" he told him patting Sam's shoulder.

Sam took a pained inhalation of breath "Oh Sam I'm sorry. Your shoulder" Mr Schue said making an apologetic face.

Sam shook his head "Don't worry it doesn't hurt too badly anymore" he replied, he was lying but if he didn't get over the pain he'd never get his place back on the team. He knew that Mr Schue and Coach Beiste were friendly and he couldn't risk Mr Schue telling her that he was out of shape.

* * *

><p>For Rachel most days at school past by incredibly slowly because all she wanted to be doing was rehearsing in glee club, everything else at school seemed a little bit pointless until it got to three thirty. Rachel sighed as she stared at the board in front of her; she'd already finished her calculus work. One of her many, many talents was being smarter than everyone else at school. She didn't like to brag about it but she was in the top three percentile of her class. Of course it was a little painful that there were other people ahead of her at school but she was still the best singer.<p>

Her head snapped up when Sam entered the room, he gave her a lopsided grin as he approached the teachers desk. He told Mrs Hagberg something and then she indicated that he take the seat beside Rachel. Finn had told Rachel that Sam had dyslexia and she hadn't expected to see him in any of her classes.

Rachel stared at him as he placed himself in the seat next to her, he was almost as tall as Finn, but there was one crucial different in their frames, Sam was well, fit. There wasn't really another way of describing him. He had muscles in places that Rachel didn't think it would be possible to have them. His leg was close to hers underneath the desk they shared. Rachel slid over just a touch, for some reason she felt a little strange sitting this close to him.

"Mrs Hagberg said that you'd be able to help me catch up" he informed her smiling slightly.

Rachel nodded "Certainly" she replied with a quirk of her head "I didn't know we were in the same class" she said questioningly.

Sam attempted to shrug "Apparently I'm too smart to be in the other class" he told her playfully "They see dyslexia on my file and assume that I am stupid, but I'm not that dumb" he informed her, a quick rise of his eyebrows followed his comment.

"Well if you want to I can come by your house one day after school and catch you up" Rachel said "You've barely missed anything" she reassured him. "Besides I'm top of the class" she added grinning.

Sam had expected as much, Rachel Berry from what he had gathered (from the very limited sources of Puck and Mike) was a perfectionist. He wondered if it was touch of OCD, the way she had her pens lined up at the edge of the desk didn't exactly look healthy, but he guessed that she just liked things done her way. It was more out of fear of Rachel's reaction that Sam had agreed to join glee club; he wasn't sure exactly what she'd do if he'd said no. It would probably be a lot more painful than dislocated shoulder.

* * *

><p>Sam was running late to glee club, not exactly a great first impression. He ran into the room just as Mr Schue was saying his name. He stood next to the teacher a little breathless as he introduced himself.<p>

"Hey everybody, I'm Sam, Sam I am and I don't like green eggs and ham" Sam inwardly cringed at that line. It was clear that not everyone in the room understood the Dr Suess reference that he'd been aiming for.

A cheerleader with raven black hair and tan skin made a face "Wow he has like no game" she whispered to another blonde haired cheerleader who was sitting beside her.

Rachel held in a small laugh, she thought that the reference was kind of cute. Sam also noticed that Quinn Fabray seemed interested in his choice of introduction which was nice.

Mr Schuester opened his mouth to speak again "Well this week I was thinking that we could work on duets" he told them. Sam frowned, he barely knew anyone and now he was going to have to find someone to sing with him? Great.

"The winners will get an all expenses paid trip to Breadstix" this seemed to ignite a lot of excitement from the rest of the group which left Sam wondering exactly what 'Breadstix' was. He looked down at his feet and tried to hide his feelings of nervousness.

After glee had finished Sam went over to his locker and started to get his things ready for the end of what felt like the longest day of school he'd ever experienced. He heard his voice being called from a little further down the corridor and he looked up. He was greeted by a boy that was wearing a shirt that had studded shoulders, Sam wasn't sure this was a look he could pull off himself.

"Hi I'm Kurt Hummel" the boy said holding out his hand.

Sam shook it and looked at him expectantly "I just wanted to personally welcome you to the glee club" Kurt explained grinning at Sam.

Sam smiled "Thanks" he mumbled.

Kurt then went into a tirade about the colour of Sam's hair and how it couldn't possibly be his natural shade. Sam stared at the other guy with a confused expression, he knew that someone would notice that his hair was looking a little on the bleached side, he just didn't expect someone to be so thorough in their enquiries about it.

Kurt finally stopped speaking and Sam gave him an awkward smile "I'm gonna go now, because your starting to freak me out" he told him before taking a step away.

Kurt wasn't going to let Sam escape so easily "Hold on" he said falling into step beside Sam "Let me make it up to you. Be my partner for the duet assignment. Unless you partner up with Rachel I am your best shot at winning" he informed him with a 'that's just the way it is' shrug.

Sam thought about that, he wished he could sing with Rachel but she was obviously going to partnering Finn. Sam shrugged at Kurt "I thought duets were supposed to be between a guy and a girl" he said simply.

Kurt chuckled at that and made a reference to what Sam presumed was a musical while Sam had a clueless expression on his face. "Maybe you are straight" Kurt mumbled underneath his breath.

Sam's eyes widened, is that why Kurt wanted to sing with him? It was obvious that Kurt was gay but he actually thought that Sam was too? He hadn't been expecting that.

Kurt smiled "Rent the movie and look up the menu for Breadstix online because we are going to win this" he told Sam before walking away from him. Sam was left staring after him the corridor totally and utterly confused by the exchange he had just had with Kurt.

* * *

><p>Rachel knew what had to be done, if she wanted Sam to stay in New Directions than he was going to have to win the competition. This meant two things; Sam couldn't sing with Kurt – Rachel loved Kurt but that was just not going to be the best performance environment for Sam. It also meant that Rachel was going to have to throw the competition. Just the thought of even pretending to be bad made her sick to her stomach.<p>

It wasn't part of the plan though that Mercedes and Santana were going to team up. They were both incredibly talented (in comparison to people other than Rachel of course) and together they would bring it. Rachel narrowed her eyes at them as they got up to sing.

As they sang their way through River Deep Mountain High, Rachel became more and more incensed, they were so good! She looked over at Sam who seemed impressed as oppose to anything else. She supposed that was a good thing at least.

Once they had finished she dragged Finn to one side of the choir room "We need to make sure that Sam wins" she whispered "He has to sing with someone other than Kurt" she said aggressively.

Finn nodded "I tried to tell him that already, but he said that in his world his word was final and that he didn't care that he'd be singing with another dude" Finn explained an expression of disbelief.

Hearing that actually made Rachel respect Sam even more, he had no issue with Kurt's sexuality, something that Finn had always been uncomfortable about. Rachel sighed "Well he better change his mind" Rachel said folding her arms.

* * *

><p>Sam walked out of the boy's locker room after his first football practice since he'd been back at school. He was humming to himself as he started to walk down the corridor; he stopped as the force of three slushies hit him in the face. He made a shocked noise before wiping his face.<p>

"You shouldn't rub it into your eyes" he heard the soft tones of Quinn Fabray say as she came up from behind him. "That makes it worse" she told him.

She took him by the arm and pulled him into the girl's bathroom "I don't often find myself in the girl's bathroom" he said looking around. It was the cleanest bathroom he'd ever seen. It smelt kind of nice too.

Quinn laughed "Put your head underneath the taps" she instructed as she turned them on, Sam felt the water run across his face and then Quinn's fingers scoop the slushie out of his hair. It had been a long time since someone had washed his hair for him.

"The blueberry is the worst. Especially if it gets down your pants, I looked like something out of Avatar down there" Quinn told him as he moved and she patted his head with a towel.

Sam grinned "I saw that movie like six times" he told her.

Quinn looked puzzled; did Sam think that was cool? "Oh" was all she said.

"You're the head cheerleader why do you even bother?" he asked "I mean you don't need glee club" he explained.

Quinn felt a little uncomfortable thinking about her past "I like to sing, and last year those guys were pretty cool to me when I wasn't on top" she admitted, Quinn loved glee in spite of all the things she had done to prove otherwise.

"What's the point of being popular if you get do what you want?" she said pushing his hair back. It was sticking together in strange clumps now.

Sam was staring at her "Lor Menuri" he said quietly.

Quinn frowned "What?" she asked.

He smiled "It means you have pretty eyes, in Navi – you know the Avatar language" he explained.

Quinn shook her head, okay so this kid was weird. But cute so maybe she could get past it. "Thanks" she mumbled before turning away from him and walking out of the bathroom. Sam did the same pretty quickly he didn't want to be known as the guy lurking in girls bathrooms.

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><p>"He's singing with Quinn" Rachel told Finn happily. "I convinced her to sing with him even after that disastrous rehearsal that they had" she explained as she sat next to him in the rehearsal room.<p>

Finn nodded "Good. He tried to kiss her? Can you believe that" he asked looking disturbed by the idea.

Rachel didn't see what was so strange about a cute guy trying to kiss a pretty girl, especially when they both single. She didn't care, well not really, there was an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she was putting that down to the very questionable soy milk that had been serving at lunch.

"So are you ready to sing our song?" she asked him, noting that Finn had put the dog collar on like she had asked. She'd gone to town on her fake nun outfit.

Finn nodded "Of course" he replied a little lamely.

The rest of the club finally arrived and they performed their song, once they had finished Rachel pretended to be surprised by the fact that they were all staring at Finn with expression of shock and disgust.

Mercedes looked at them "Do I even need to say it?" she asked shaking her head.

Sam looked at them both "That was really rude" he told them bemused.

"But like _really_ rude" Tina clarified.

Rachel was feeling secretly happy but said nothing.

"I seriously wanted to punch both of you" Quinn told them her eyes narrowed.

Mr Schue then told them that he was really disappointed in them. Rachel pretended to be shocked before taking Finns hand and sitting back down. She was a fantastic actress and this performance only proved that further.

"Well if Sam and Quinn want to start" Mr Schue said.

Sam felt a little nervous, especially after the awkwardness between him and Quinn, he knew she shouldn't have tried to kiss her, but in the moment it had just seemed right. He stood up and reached for his guitar, he took a deep breath as he started to play.

He looked at the rest of the glee club and saw Rachel beaming at him, and he honestly did feel a little better knowing that she was supporting him.

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><p><em>I know it was looooong. This stories chapters will be a lot longer than my other story Complications. That's just the way it is! <em>

_Please review and tell me what you think! I will try and update every Tuesday from now on :) _


	4. Present Day

_So it seemed to take ages to write this chapter! But here it is :)_

_I decided to take it a bit further forward before we have another flashback.  
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><p><em>A few weeks before the wedding<br>_

Sam had this constant urge to get sick recently. It was if pressure was building constantly in the pit of his well toned stomach. It felt strange that high school was over, and that he was still living in Lima. He had expected to go to Kentucky after the graduation ceremony, and move in with his parents, but this was before he was told that he had received a full ride to the University of Ohio, it may not be as big as some of his graduating class's ambitions but Sam was over the moon. This past year he had put a lot of extra effort into his school work, he knew how important it was to his parents that he get a good education and a degree so that he would never have to worry about employment like they had.

In spite of this happiness Sam could not rid the nausea he felt each time he got together with the former glee club. Finn had suggested that they have a barbeque at his place, and since Sam was still living there it would have been more than a little odd if he hadn't gone. Still it didn't stop the pain racing through his blood as he watched Finn and Rachel together, especially now they had this ridiculous intention to get married before they went off to college. He knew that the plans were set in motion but it still seemed ridiculous to him.

He pressed the rip of his red plastic cup to his lips and took a long sip, it was only root beer but in his mind it was something far stronger. He squinted at the sun that shone over his head and turned his face to the ground.

"What are you thinking about?" he heard a voice ask.

Sam turned to Artie Abram's who had moved to his right whilst Sam was deep in thought. Sam shrugged "Just life I guess" he mumbled, it wasn't as though he didn't like Artie, they weren't close, but they were still friends, he just didn't feel like talking about his relationship (or lack there of) all the time.

Artie nodded as if he understood "I can't believe that none of you will be in glee in September" he said with a little sadness in his voice.

Artie was a senior in the coming school year and therefore had another year of putting up with Mr Schuester's old school tunes, and Ms Sylvester's endless torment. As much as Sam was going to miss high school, he was definitely glad that he wouldn't have to deal with the crazed cheerleading coach.

Sam made a tutting noise "Yeh it'll definitely be weird" he said quietly, his mind was stuck on how odd it would be not see Rachel every single day at school. It was as though their physical proximity made up for the fact that he had absolutely no chance with her. Her presence was enough for him to feel better.

As he cast his eyes over the set of friends in Finn's garden his eyes lingered on the image of his best friend Puck making out with his ex girlfriend Quinn. Sam felt himself laugh as he watched that happen, he knew that Quinn had always had these lingering feelings for Puck and was glad to see that something was finally being done about it. Their history was way too deep to be wasted.

Sam sidled over to sit between Kurt and Mercedes, "What are you guys talking about?" he asked placing an arm around each of their shoulders.

Kurt looked a little sadder than Sam was used to seeing "What's wrong?" he asked.

"He's worried about him and Blaine; you know that it won't work out" Mercedes told him shrugging, "The whole long distance thing" she clarified.

Sam nodded, he'd had these some kind of troubles when his parents first told him about the move to Kentucky, and he was worried that would damage the relationship he _wasn't_ having with Rachel. He was incredibly thankful when Burt and Carol allowed him to stay with them for senior year. "I think that it will work. I mean sure it'll be difficult and it'll take a lot of effort on both parts, but if you want it work, it will" Sam told his friend nudging him with his elbow.

Kurt gave him a tearful smile "Thanks Sam. It really is a shame you aren't gay" he commented.

Sam laughed "Yeh sometimes I think that too" he replied smirking. "Where is Blaine?" he asked looking for the bow tie wearing crooner.

"Oh he's going to be late, he's doing his community theatre" Kurt said grinning at the thought of his boyfriend on stage.

"So 'Cedes… any plans for a summer fling this year?" Sam asked raising his eyebrows. "You know with someone less ab-ulous than me" he added winking at her.

Mercedes gave him her signature evil glare "Not really" she mumbled, but there was slight tinge of red coming over her cheeks.

Sam narrowed his green eyes at his former girlfriend "There is someone that you like though… isn't there?" he asked, staring her down. He was glad that they were close enough to be real friends.

Kurt was now staring her with deep interest "Is that true Mercedes? Do you like someone?" he asked her grinning.

Mercedes bit her lip "Maybe" she said coyly. "But it's not really any of your business is it now?" she said.

"Well whoever he is, he's a lucky guy. I know that I didn't always show that how much I cared about you, so I hope that he does a better job" Sam told her. Mercedes gave him a small smile of appreciation to his long overdue (sort of) apology.

"You guys make the whole transition from more than friends to just friends again look so easy" Kurt told them.

"That's because we really are best friends" Sam told him "You may think that you have dibs on best friends with Miss Jones, but you are incorrect" he said poking his tongue out.

* * *

><p>Rachel rested her chin on her boyfriend's chest as they lay on the chequered picnic blanket that separated them from the grass. She was the epitome of happy at this moment. Which made her sudden wandering thoughts even harder to understand; it was as if every time she wasn't thinking about NYADA (which was a lot) or Finn (which was slightly less) she was thinking about Sam. She always had this odd sensation that he was looking at her. He had this way of looking at her, as if there were some deep unknown beneath the olive shade of her skin. As if her dark eyes held something that he wanted so badly to grasp. It was a little bit frightening but not so much that it was unappealing to her. Ever since what had happened last year things had been different between them, they walked a tightrope between friendship and uncomfortable. It was hard to forget the feel of his finger tips across her collar bone, or the way his mouth felt pressing into the space behind her ear. Rachel shook her head as if to rid these thoughts from it. Finn looked at her with curiosity.<p>

This was the thing, when Finn looked at her, he didn't want to see what was hidden in the depths of her soul. Finn looked at her as if he knew everything about her; he didn't seem disappointed by that, he just seemed resigned to what his fiancé was. Rachel hated the term fiancé it felt so strange in her mouth. "Are you alright?" he whispered.

Rachel nodded "Yes. I just felt some sort of insect flying near my head" she told him. Part of her thought that lying was the worst thing that could ever be done in relationship, but another part knew that talking to Finn about marriage being to big a step wouldn't be any better.

Why couldn't they just date for a while longer? If they were supposed to go the distance surely the year they got married wouldn't matter in the long run.

"I'm going to get water" she said standing up and brushing down the front of her skirt. She made her way into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge, she couldn't drink the bottles from outside they could be teaming with germs by now.

She grabbed a bottle from the fridge and was shocked when she realised that she wasn't alone in the kitchen, Sam was at the far end of the adjoined dining room talking on the cell phone. Rachel couldn't tell what he was talking about, but he looked animated and excited, which he so rarely did these days.

Sam noticed her watching and he gave her a smile, he wondered what she was staring at him like that for. Maybe he had something on his shirt, he hung up the phone. "Do I have something on my shirt?" he asked looking down.

Rachel shook her head lamely "Oh no" she mumbled, her stomach buzzed with butterflies as she clutched her water tightly.

"Then why are you staring at me like that?" he asked her, he was closer to her now, just inches apart. Within touching distance.

"Oh you just seemed… really excited about, your phone call" she mumbled, her cheeks flushing a deep red. Sam loved the idea that in spite of everything that he could still cause her to blush like that.

He grinned "Oh it was my mom, I got into Ohio State" he told her. A grin spread across Rachel's face like a fire in the woods as she gazed at him.

"That's amazing news! You really deserve it Sam" she told him happily, leaning forward to hug him, her small frame fit into his neatly as if it were created solely to be encased in his arms. Sam felt the familiar scent of her strawberry shampoo flood his nostrils. It was dizzying.

Rachel pressed a kiss to his cheek "Congratulations" she said softly.

There was a moment, a second of uncertainty or awkwardness between them after that. Sam opened his mouth as if to say something "Hey party people" Blaine yelled as he burst into the kitchen from the front of the house, not realising the importance of what he had just interrupted.

Rachel looked down "I better get back outside" she mumbled, her eyes not quite meeting Sam's.

* * *

><p>Sam yawned as he ran a hand through his dark blond, slightly mussed hair as he listened to her repeat the same lines over and over. He had woken up the sound of Rachel reciting lines from Wicked in Finn and Kurt's living room. It wouldn't have been so strange, if it wasn't three in the morning when he'd heard her.<p>

"What are you doing?" he asked her sleepily, trying to stretch himself awake.

Rachel jumped and turned to him, her eyes gliding over his barely dressed figure. It was her enough to render even her speechless "I'm practising" she informed him as if that was obvious to anyone with half a brain.

Sam frowned "I got that. But why are you practising at three in the morning?" he asked, he sat down on sofa. He shivered suddenly aware of the fact that he hadn't bothered to put a shirt on, he was glad Rachel wore a onesie to bed, because things could have gotten really awkward otherwise.

"I just want to be ready for NYADA" she said quietly. It didn't matter how many times, or how many people told Rachel she could achieve everything she wanted, she still couldn't believe them, and rid herself of her doubts.

Sam smiled his expression amused, Rachel was the most adorable person he knew, certifiable, but adorable just the same. "I think you were born ready for NYADA" he whispered, his voice raw, but he could put that down to tiredness.

Rachel felt her heart rate increase just a little at the sleepy smile that was on Sam's face, forgetting about him would be so much easier if he didn't say or do things like that. She wondered if he ever… no he couldn't. She probably never crossed his mind anymore, she had been awful to him, and he'd forgiven her without a word. If he'd really liked her he would have been more hurt and they wouldn't be friends now.

"Thanks Sam" she said quietly sitting down next to him, they were pretty far apart but she was sure she could feel his heart beating just as face as hers.

Sam nodded "I'm just speaking the truth. You are one of the most –if not the most talented person I know. You deserve to have everything you want" he said quietly.

Rachel got this odd sense that he was talking about her wedding to Finn now, as if he was somehow giving his approval of what she was doing. In the midst of everything Rachel hadn't really been able to think about whether or not marrying Finn at the age of eighteen was really everything that she wanted. Sure she wanted to get married eventually, she wanted someone to love her, and care for her. But was it Finn? Maybe it wasn't fears about NYADA that kept her awake at 3am.

* * *

><p>Rachel was sitting across from her most sensible friend, Quinn Fabray. Friendship hadn't come easy to the two girls; in fact they had gone out of their way to prove that they couldn't be friends for a long time but Rachel was happy now that she could talk to Quinn about anything, because she gave the best advice. Perhaps having a troubled time in your life made you better at dealing with other peoples problems.<p>

Rachel run her thumb around the top of her coffee cup thoughtfully "What do you really think about Finn and I getting married?" she asked biting her lip nervously.

Quinn quirked one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows "Honestly?" she asked "I think you're too young to be getting married. I mean sure date the guy, do the long distance thing. Marriage just seems like a big unnecessary step. If you really believe you could love Finn for the rest of your life then why do you need to get married to prove that?" Quinn had been having concerns about her friend's upcoming nuptials for a long while now, not least because she thought the idea of marriage in high school was ridiculous but because she always felt like Rachel wasn't sure of it herself.

The brunette felt suddenly saddened by the realisation that her best friend didn't really think that it was a good idea for her to get married. "I know that I love Finn" Rachel said softly "I just don't know if it is the kind of love that will last forever" she admitted, taking a glug of her latte.

"That's exactly why you shouldn't be doing it Rachel, if you aren't sure then you shouldn't do it" Quinn replied.

"But you can't have absolute certainty about everything" Rachel said.

Quinn rolled her eyes "Yes but you can more certain than you are" she said, "I'm sorry Rachel, I just think you might regret it" she told her friend patting her hand where it rested on the table.

Rachel had thought that Quinn would just tell her what she wanted to hear, that it was right to marry Finn and that she should run down to the chapel and do it right now. If Quinn told her that she believed in the idea of Finn and her being married she would believe it. Instead she had got the opposite. Quinn thought that it was too soon and a bad idea and Rachel felt herself thinking the same thing. But how can you tell someone that you don't know if you want to marry them? That's effectively an ending, not a pause to a relationship. If only magic eight balls really worked and she could just know for sure what she should do. Her head ached from all this thinking, especially when Sam kept drifting into her thoughts for no distinct reason.

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><p>So thoughts... should I alternate more chapters between the past and the almost present?<p>

Also if you have questions just ask!

Review if you can!


	5. November

_Okay so this is shorter than the other chapters, but not a lot of things were going on in the episode that it's based around therefore meaning that I didn't have much to write about, I promise the next chapter will be longer and hopefully more interested.  
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><p><em>OctoberNovember 2010_

Rachel did not approve of the Mr Schuester's idea of using Rocky Horror as the basis of the school musical. Even for him it was a little risqué, it involved a lot of topics that Rachel wasn't exactly comfortable with. Of course none of that was going to stop her trying out for the lead role. Who else could be a lead in a musical at McKinley High? She smiled as she brushed down the skirt of the dress she had adorned as a costume. In actual fact Janet's style wasn't that dissimilar to Rachel's, very prim and proper and girly. Rachel smiled as she waited for Finn to come out of the audition room. She knew in her heart that Finn wasn't the most talented male in the glee club, but he was perfect for the role of Brad. Finn may be popular but he certainly wasn't very slick.

He came out of the room a small smile on his face "I got the part" he told her.

Rachel clasped her hands together excitedly "I knew you would Finn! This is just… perfect" she told him pushing herself onto her tip toes so that she could kiss him lightly on the mouth.

"Break a leg" Finn said smiling at his girlfriend.

Rachel smiled at him, as if she needed any good luck wishes or anything like that; she was going to get this part with ease. She took her place at centre stage a single spotlight shining over her, although she wasn't all that comfortable with the song she had chosen to sing Toucha Toucha Touch Me, since it was from the original musical. Her heart fluttered with nerves as she heard the opening beats of the song.

Sam was sitting backstage waiting to audition when heard the familiar sound of one of his favourite songs from the stage, he stood and peered through a small gap in the curtains. He could see that Rachel was really going for it, he was a little shocked, he knew that she wasn't exactly known for her raw sexuality, so she must be an amazing actress to perform the way she was.

As the song finished Sam found himself clapping as Rachel came off the stage a tired but happy smile resting on her lips. "You were great Rachel" he told her quietly giving her a big smile.

Rachel looked at him, biting her bottom lip "Thank you so much Sam" she gushed. "That's really sweet of you to say" she added patting his arm gently, there was firmness to it that made Rachel feeling slightly odd for a second.

Sam nodded "Of course" he said.

"Are you auditioning?" she asked him frowning at him.

He nodded again "Yeh, Mr Schue told me to try out, he seemed pretty keen that I play _Rocky_" he mumbled. He'd never really watched the musical the whole way through, it was a little long and he had the attention span of an insect most of the time.

Rachel grinned at him "The Creature?" she asked him, holding back a laugh "I can see why he asked you too" she told him, thinking that Sam probably would look good in those tiny gold shorts. She blushed at the idea that had just crossed her mind.

Sam frowned "Is that a good thing?" he asked her confused by her certainty that he could play the role.

She nodded "Once you see the costume you'll understand that it's a compliment" she said smiling, "Break a leg" she told him.

* * *

><p>Once Mr Schue had given Sam the part he understood what Rachel meant, he was squeezing himself into a pair of the tightest gold shorts he'd ever encountered. They were insanely uncomfortable and a little risqué for his liking. His girlfriend Quinn was staring at him with a bemused expression.<p>

"Those are a little tight" she said tightly as he came out of the room where he'd been changing.

Sam grinned at her "Don't you think they look sexy?" he asked her giving her a look that implied that she should.

Quinn shook her head "I don't think they're suitable for a high school production Sam" she told him, resting her hand on her hip.

He pressed a kiss onto forehead "You look really hot" he whispered close to her.

She was dressed as Magenta, this wild wig on her head and a tight fitting maid's outfit on pressing against her body. "You're strange" she whispered back leaning up to kiss his mouth.

Sam grinned as he watched saunter away, he couldn't believe how lucky he was that Quinn Fabray was even looking twice at him let alone dating him. She was probably the prettiest girl at school and definitely the most popular. He knew that dating her would be good for his dwindling school status.

"Nice shorts" Mike Chang told him as he started laughing.

Sam made a face at his friend "Shut up. It's not like I chose to wear them" he muttered unhappily.

His friend grinned "Are you not worried that they'll hinder your chances of having children in the future?" he said raising an eyebrow.

Sam looked down, this thought hadn't occurred to him. "Oh god" he whispered.

Mike chuckled "I was kidding. I'm sure you'll be fine" he told him.

Sam walked onto the stage his head down he felt totally embarrassed and insecure about his costume, if you could even call it that. Rachel looked up at him flabbergasted; she felt a flush rushing over her entire body as her dark brown eyes raked over his body. He was toned and broad everywhere, she'd never really been into muscles before and now she wondered why. Sam looked like her idea of a Greek god.

"Hey Rachel" he said quietly, standing awkwardly beside.

Rachel felt as though her tongue had tripled in size as she stared at him trying to find words to say hello back "Hi" she squawked her voice coming out high pitched and squeaky.

Sam looked at her "Do you have a sore throat?" he asked, his expression worried as he stared down at her.

Rachel shook her head "Um no" she said quietly. "Not really" she added, because having a sore throat was the plausible excuse for her weird voice at that moment.

He grinned at her "That's good!" he said with fervour "You can't be sick and perform in the musical. I think we know you'll be the best thing in it" he told her.

Rachel's mouth fell open just a little as she looked at him. People had told her that she was talented and a good singer before, but usually because she had practically forced them into complimenting her. It was rare for her to hear someone compliment her just because they wanted to. "Thanks. I'm sure you'll be great too. You look good" Rachel shut her eyes after realising what she had just said to him.

He smirked "Uh thanks" he mumbled folding his arms subconsciously.

"What are you doing?" Quinn's voice cut into the atmosphere harshly as she placed her hand on Sam's forearm, as if marking her territory.

Sam gave her a look of confusion "We're talking about the show" he informed his sort of girlfriend cautiously.

Quinn narrowed her pretty green eyes at Rachel ""Well don't" she said. Quinn was probably more insecure that most girls that went to McKinley, her insecurities weren't helped by the fact that Rachel had gone after her last boyfriend right under her nose; she couldn't handle that happening again.

Rachel stood up quickly, and gave Sam an apologetic look in return to his own look of confusion as she walked away from them. Quinn still had the power to make Rachel feel like a horrible person; no matter how many times Rachel told herself that she had repented for attempting to steal Finn from Quinn there were always doubts that niggled at the back of her mind.

Sam narrowed his dark green eyes at Quinn expectantly "Why do you have to be like that?" he asked her. Sometimes Quinn was that amazingly sweet, vulnerable girl that he had taken to Breadstix on their first date, but other times she was just so horrible. Especially to Rachel.

"I don't like Rachel" she told him, without a smidgen of caring in her tone. "She's not that great a person; I don't understand why everyone thinks she is" Quinn informed him, folding her arms over the word Cheerio's emblazoned on her cheerleading uniform.

Sam sighed "Whatever, I need to get changed out of this" he mumbled as he wandered off in the direction of the changing room behind the stage.

He'd expected the room to be empty when he got there and was very surprised to be greeted by Rachel Berry changing from her outfit back into her normal clothes. At this moment she was wearing just her underwear, as she pulled a skirt over her hips. Sam didn't make a noise to alert her to his presence and his eyes raked over her figure before he realised that he was completely invading her privacy. He waited until she had placed a shirt over her head before making his way in.

Rachel looked at him, her cheeks slightly flushed "Wow a few seconds earlier and this could have been embarrassing" she told him, placing her pumps onto her feet.

Sam felt his throat go dry as he pretended not to understand, he pulled his Captain America t-shirt over his head and looked at her "Rachel I just wanted to say sorry for the way Quinn acted with you earlier" he said, Rachel looked at him curiously before he continued "I don't know why she's so mean sometimes" he finished speaking and Rachel walked toward him.

Her hand rested on his shoulder "It's probably a deep vested insecurity about the fact that Finn broke up with her for me. At least in her mind he did, in actuality it was because she got pregnant with his best friends baby. Even so, Quinn hasn't had it easy these past few months so sometimes she finds is soothing to take out her feelings on me" Rachel explained her voice completely serious as Sam looked at her blankly.

Rachel frowned "You did know that Quinn had a baby right? I mean she's been adopted, by my birth mother actually, but you knew that right?" she asked him softly. He looked freaked out by her speech, but that wasn't that odd, most people found her life speeches a little intimidating.

Sam nodded "I know about Beth. I didn't realise that Quinn had cheated on Finn in order to get pregnant thought" he admitted, biting his oversized bottom lip pensively.

"Oh well, it was a long time ago, and Puck isn't exactly the greatest of guys, so I don't think we can blame all of it on Quinn. Just some of it" Rachel told him. "I better go, Finn is waiting for me" she said waving at him.

Sam ran a hand through his hair as he thought about what had just happened. Quinn had a baby with Puck? Sam actually liked Puck, why hadn't Quinn explained what had happened? I mean he understood that she didn't want to talk about the whole thing, but the minor detail that she had cheated on her previous boyfriend with his best friend would have been appreciated.


	6. November '2'

Okay so I wanted to update again this week, because that last chapter was soooo short. So here is a new one!

* * *

><p><em>November (2)<em>

Rachel leant closer to Sam, the scent of her perfume leaving an indelible mark on his nostrils as he breathed in. Her tongue poked out over her bottom lip as she concentrated on the math problem in front of them.

"This is pretty complicated" she mumbled quietly a large amount of frustration in her words.

Sam nodded, he'd actually figured the problem out about five minutes ago but he hadn't told her that. He didn't want her to move back to her side of the desk just yet. He was totally losing it at this point; somehow small thoughts about Rachel had turned into a yearning crush that burnt in the pit of his stomach. Each calculus class was mixture of torturous and wonderful, as was every second spent in Rachel's presence.

He cleared his throat "I think you just need to subtract that" he said pointing at a number "and then multiply it by that" he told her.

Rachel looked at him from the corner of her eye and then back the sheet "How long ago did you figure that out?" she asked him the smallest semblance of a smile forming on her mouth.

Sam shrugged guiltily "Just now" he told her.

She shook her head dark curls bouncing off of her back "Don't lie Sam! You just pretended not to know so that I wouldn't feel stupid for not getting it" she replied, her tiny frame moved away from his and she leant back in her seat an easy smile on her face.

"Well I know that you like to be right about everything" he said. Rachel made an expression of disagreement but said nothing, knowing that he was right.

"So you must be excited about the boys against girls thing in glee?" he asked her, Sam sometimes just talked about random stuff to keep the conversation going between them.

Rachel grinned "Of course. It was really fun last year. You'll enjoy it" she told him. "Well apart from _my_ team beating yours" she added sticking her tongue out.

Sam chuckled, "I think it's your boyfriend's team actually" he replied quirking an eyebrow at her.

Her expression clouded for a second, she hated the idea of competing against Finn in glee club, usually she was singing with him not against him. Still that didn't kill the competitiveness that raged inside her body like a samba band. No way was Rachel Berry going to let someone else win a singing competition that could just never happen.

"Finn and I keep our personal lives separate from glee club" she told Sam.

Sam made a face "I thought you met in glee club" he said looking at her amused.

Rachel made a face of shock "Uh" she muttered indignantly. Sam always had the annoying habit of outsmarting her, it was highly irritating.

"Besides I wasn't here last year, which changes everything. We're totally going to kick your butts" Sam told her cockily.

"We'll see about that" she said smirking at him.

With Sam everything was just harmless banter. Of course that had been a small amount of awkwardness after Quinn discovered that it had been Rachel who had told Sam about the whole baby situation. But things were certainly back on track now; he was becoming one of Rachel's best friends. Maybe they'd even be a day in the future she and Finn could double date with him and Quinn. Okay so that was a pretty distant future, but not impossible right?

* * *

><p>"I hate her so much" Quinn moaned as she paced up and down by the end of Sam's bed.<p>

Sam sighed and continued to read the comic book he'd managed to win on ebay. When he had invited Quinn over to hang out with him it hadn't been to listen to her complain about Rachel. He was so bored of her complaining about her all the time. It wasn't like Quinn knew about his crush or anything, so what was there to hate about Rachel? She barely talked about anything else, especially not her feelings. It was like Sam was just someone who could listen to her constant complaining.

"She told me that my vocals weren't strong enough to perform a solo in the competition" Quinn continued, she stopped when she realised that Sam was paying her not attention whatsoever. "You aren't even listening to me" she said.

Sam looked up "Could we for once talk about something else?" he asked her, he closed the comic book and patted the space next to him on the bed.

Quinn made a huffing noise before sitting down, for some odd reason she had kept her tennis shoes on. Sam always found it weird when people wore shoes in the house as if they were always waiting to leave. He pulled her towards him so that her head was resting close to his heart. "What do you want to talk about?" Quinn asked him, her neck was already hurting from lying like this.

Sam bit his lip "We could always talk about Beth?" he said. He wanted to hear about Quinn's life before he came into the picture. He wasn't so selfish that he didn't care about what made her who she was. He wanted to know things about her, and Beth was a big part of who she was, whether or not she was in her life.

Quinn tensed "I don't want to talk about her" she replied bluntly. "I don't know why you're so obsessed with that anyway" she mumbled. She hated to talk about Beth that was her own private business and had nothing to do with her life now.

Sam took a deep breath "I'm not obsessed, I was just interested and I thought you might want to talk about her. But if you don't then we don't have to" he said quietly. "Why don't you tell me something about when you were younger or something?" he suggested.

"No. Why do you always want to talk about the past, I want to talk about the future, like prom and graduating next year. I don't want to live in the past" Quinn sat up and brushed out her skirt. "I have to go" she said.

Sam stared at the space which Quinn had just been standing in. Maybe going to an all boy's school had left Sam with some archaic ideas of how to be a good boyfriend, but as far as he could remember you were supposed to be nice to your girlfriend? And show an interest in her and her life? He shook his head, it occurred to him that maybe being with the most popular girl in school wasn't as great as he thought, especially when she wouldn't really let him _be_ with her at all.

* * *

><p>"Damn" Artie said as he stared at the glee girls.<p>

The six girls stood in front of the guys breathless and leather clad as they finished the mash up they had created. They guys stared at them with expressions, of shock, desire and confusion as they clapped.

Rachel grinned at them "Thank you" she said happily placing her microphone back into its stand carefully.

"Well boys that is going to take some beating" Mr Schue said, looking a little hot under the collar himself.

Sam walked over to Rachel assuredly "It was okay, but I think the boys are going to pull it out of the bag" he said casually. In all honesty, the entire performance by the girls had been stuff of teenage boy fantasy for him. He had never been so attracted to someone before, and he wasn't thinking about Quinn.

Rachel crossed her arms "Bring it on" she said, narrowing her hazel eyes at him.

Finn grabbed Rachel by her waist and pressed a kiss onto her forehead, Sam looked away with discomfort, before wandering off when he realised that Rachel was going to be too distracted to talk to him anymore.

Quinn was outside by his locker like she'd said she would be when he had asked to find him after glee that day. She was still dressed in her costume, it made a feeling of doubt creep over Sam but he knew that finding her sexy in leather trousers was hardly a reason not to do what he was about to.

"You wanted to talk" Quinn said.

Sam nodded "Look, I think you're beautiful. I think you could be a really great girlfriend Quinn. For someone who you really wanted to be with, I just don't think that's me" Sam told her, wringing his hands together.

Quinn stared at him "You're breaking up with me?" she asked him slowly.

Sam shrugged "Well technically you told me that we were never really boyfriend and girlfriend, so I'm just ending whatever it was we had" he said.

She looked down, he was right she had been very clear about the fact they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend. "Maybe we can be friends" Sam offered, he tried to smile at her.

Quinn nodded "Sure" she mumbled looking at the ground "You're right Sam. I'm not ready to be someone's girlfriend; I just need some time alone. Thank you for making me realise that" she said and she leant up to kiss his cheek.

He smiled shocked by how well Quinn was taking this "I am helpful like that" he said.

He saw Quinn's narrow at him, "I was kidding" he told her.

She smiled "I know. You just aren't funny Sam" she said, patting his arm.

* * *

><p>Rachel had been thinking a lot lately about her first kiss. It was with Finn that day in the auditorium. It hadn't been as perfect as she usually remembered, he was still dating someone else and he'd been really weird after it. But still it was her first kiss and it had been great, it was with the boy she really loved. She'd been thinking about it because she realised it wouldn't be long before she'd be experience her first something else with Finn.<p>

It wasn't like Finn had been pressuring her; he was a virgin too, so he wasn't in as much of a hurry as he could be. But sometimes she could tell that he couldn't figure out why they hadn't done it with each other. In her mind they hadn't even been officially dating for that long and she just wanted to make sure it was right before she gave herself to him.

Finn kissed her mouth softly while she pondered her virginity. "What are you thinking about?" he asked her.

Rachel wrinkled her nose, would it be okay if she told Finn what she was thinking about? Or would that make him think that she wanted to do it right then?

"Nothing really, school" she mumbled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again.

Finn leant his forehead against hers, he stared at her. He felt so guilty whenever they were making out, she still didn't know that he had lost it to Santana, he'd wanted to tell her but then she had just assumed that he hadn't done it yet and he couldn't tell her the truth. She hated Santana.

"You're beautiful" he murmured. He really meant it too, Rachel may not be hot in the way Santana or Quinn was but she was beautiful to him.

Rachel blushed "Thanks" she whispered.

* * *

><p>Sam saw it happen before he could stop it, he watched as Dave Kurofsky shoved Kurt into his own locker. It wasn't an accident either; he could have easily avoided him. Sam sped over to his friend and offered him a hand "You okay?" he asked pulling Kurt to his feet.<p>

Kurt was anything but okay; he looked embarrassed and upset, as if tears were forming in his eyes. He nodded "You don't have to help me Sam" he muttered.

Sam frowned "We're friends, why wouldn't I help you?" he asked, handing Kurt a book that had fallen to the floor.

"He'll start on you. They'll think your _one of us" _Kurt air quoted the last part of his sentence.

"If you mean that he'll think I'm gay, I'd rather the entire school thought that about me, than you thought that I was a bad friend" Sam told him. "You don't deserve to be bullied for being who you are Kurt" he said.

Kurt stared at Sam, usually guys were uncomfortable at best with his sexuality but Sam actually seemed totally comfortable with the idea of having a gay friend. "Thank you" he whispered smiling.

Sam nodded "Look if he does it again, just let me know, and I'll kick his ass" Sam said, Sam wasn't exactly sure he could kick anyone's ass, but he'd at least try.

Rachel came over "Hey what happened?" she asked noting the expression on Kurt's face.

"Nothing" Kurt said.

Sam gave him a look but didn't say anything "Sam was just helping me with something" Kurt told her.

The blonde nodded "Yep" he mumbled. Maybe Kurt didn't want Rachel to know that he was getting bullied, it seemed a little strange to him but he wasn't one to pry.

Rachel rolled her eyes "Really? Because I heard that you got slammed into a locker? She asked him, hands placed on her petite hips.

Sam looked at Kurt "It was an accident" Kurt said.

Sam sighed "Yeh like the kind of accident when someone goes out of their way to shove you into something" he said.

Rachel looked at her friend "Are you going to tell Blaine? I thought he was helping you with this bullying thing?" she said.

"There's a bullying thing?" Sam asked looking at Kurt with concern.

Kurt sighed "No, there is not a bullying thing. I will tell Blaine later on" he muttered.

"Whose Blaine?" Sam asked.

Rachel grinned at him "Kurt's new friend" she said smirking.

Sam looked at Kurt "Like your boyfriend?" he asked.

Kurt made a face at Rachel "No not like my boyfriend, he's just my friend" he mumbled, the blush coming across his cheeks a sharp contrast to the porcelain shade of his skin.

"But you like him?" Sam asked with an amused expression.

"He has a picture of him in his locker" Rachel told Sam beaming.

Kurt looked at them "Okay enough. Please go away now. Thank you for your help Sam and Rachel please don't ever talk again."

Sam looked at Rachel as Kurt walked off, "I think it's nice" Sam said. "You know that he's found someone that he likes" he explained. Rachel smiled, it was nice to find someone that the thought of made you blush; it wasn't a feeling she only got about Finn these days.

* * *

><p>That was the first big deviation from the show and how things happened in season 2.<p>

I hope you liked it! I'm really enjoying writing it, it's getting exciting!


	7. Present Day '2'

_Okay so this is another flash forward to a few weeks before the wedding. I probably won't be going forward in time for quite a while longer. But enjoy! Thanks for reviewing, putting this in your favorites and alerts!  
><em>

* * *

><p><em>Three weeks before the wedding<em>

Rachel's hand shook as she knocked on the large wooden door in front of her. Her stomach was filled with intense butterflies as she waited for someone to answer.

He pulled the door open and she knew she just knew that this was the right choice, he stared at her a mixture of shock and interest as he leant against the door frame. "What are you doing here?" he asked softly.

"I want you" she whispered her mouth barely able to form the words she had just said.

Sam felt the tightness in his stomach instantly disappear as he pulled Rachel toward him by the lapels of her jacket, his mouth met with hers in seconds, they warmth of their lips colliding. It was everything that he had remembered, the sensations that it led him to have not changed since their last kiss.

"I love you" Rachel whispered against his mouth.

Sam smiled, his heart bursting, tears of joy almost set to fall from his eyes "I was so scared that you'd never realise" he whispered, his mouth finding hers again.

Sam only realised that he'd been day dreaming again when his coffee missed his mouth and spilled down his shirt. It was white and clean on that morning; he cursed as he put the cup on the table and pulled the shirt off. He grabbed the closest clean shirt to him, it just so happened to be Finn's, it was a little tight around his arms but it'd have to do. He'd promised Kurt that he'd spy on Mercedes and her new boyfriend with him. He'd only agreed because he wanted to ensure that this guy was good enough for Mercedes since she was one of his closest friends.

"Are you going for the hulk look?" Kurt asked later at the mall.

Sam looked at him with a moody expression "No. It's Finn's, I got coffee on my shirt" he muttered.

"Must have been thinking pretty hard about something" Kurt mused looking at his friend with a knowing expression.

Sam sighed "_Yes_, I was thinking about Rachel" he replied. "Does everyone know about the way I feel, apart from Rachel and Finn?" he asked sounding annoyed.

Kurt shrugged, "Well you make it so obvious" he said.

"Not obvious enough apparently" Sam muttered under his breath.

Kurt pulled him behind a store door "There she is" he whispered.

Sam looked around "Rachel?" he asked.

Kurt rolled his eyes "Keep on track Sam. Mercedes is over there."

Sam nodded, he looked over and saw her standing outside Baskin and Robbins, with some guy with dreadlocks. "Dreadlocks? People still have those?" he asked Kurt, making a face.

Kurt wrinkled his noise "They shouldn't" he replied, sounding disappointed in his friend's choice of boyfriend.

"I'm sure that he's a nice person in spite of his hair" Sam commented, he couldn't believe that Mercedes wouldn't choose a good guy to go out with.

"Let's follow them" Kurt said and placed some sunglasses over his eyes.

Sam made a face of confusion "She knows who you are Kurt, I don't think the sunglasses are going to hide it that well" he told him.

Kurt sighed "Come on, let's just follow them" he said.

Sam followed his friend as they walked behind Mercedes and her new boyfriend. Kurt said that they had to make sure they were at least a metre behind them at all times so that they wouldn't be seen. Sam didn't know why Kurt couldn't wait for Mercedes to introduce her boyfriend to them when she wanted to.

"Sam!" A voice said from behind him and Kurt.

Sam turned his heart leaping out of chest as he recognised the voice "Hey Rachel" he said quietly smiling at her.

Rachel felt a grin tug at her lips as she took him in. It had only been a few days since she had last seen him but he looked even better than she remembered. Inwardly she cursed her heart for still feeling these things as she stared at him.

"Hi Kurt" she said finally acknowledging her friends presence.

Kurt let his sunglasses fall further down his nose as he looked at her "Hi Rachel" he said, recognising the look of dopiness on her face. It was the same face he made whenever he saw Blaine. He still couldn't believe that Rachel was going to marry Finn when her feelings for Sam were so obvious.

"What are you two doing?" she asked them curiously.

"Kurt wanted to go incognito to see Mercedes boyfriend" Sam told her, bobbing his head awkwardly. He felt totally out of sorts whenever he saw Rachel; his body had this whole chemical reaction to her that he couldn't control no matter how hard he tried. "What are you doing here?" he asked her.

She looked at her bags "Oh I was just buying some things for the wedding" she said quietly.

Sam nodded pretending that hearing the word wedding didn't literally break his heart. "Oh that's nice" he mumbled.

"What are you guys all doing at the mall?" Mercedes asked them, her tone sounded pissed.

Kurt smiled "We were helping Rachel with wedding stuff" he told her confidently. "I didn't know you were coming today" he commented looking her boyfriend up and down with an evil eye.

Rachel and Sam looked at one another "So who is this?" Rachel asked gesturing to Mercedes shopping buddy.

Mercedes cheeked darkened "This is Joe" she said quietly.

Joe smiled at them all, "Hi everyone" he said happily. "You must be Kurt, Sam and Rachel right?" he asked them.

They all nodded dumbly "Mercedes never stops talking about you guys! It's great to meet you all" he told them.

They all grinned, "Well we're her best friends" Kurt said breezily. "It's great to meet you too."

Sam nodded "I like your hair man, its cool" he remarked, mainly for Kurt's benefit than anything else.

"So you're getting married?" Joe said to Rachel. If she was honest she was becoming sick of talking about her upcoming nuptials. Maybe that sounded bad but she was just so confused already that talking about it didn't help her. She looked at Sam to see if he even cared that they were talking about her wedding. He wasn't looking at her; he was inspecting the cuff of his shirt sleeve. She couldn't tell if he was avoiding her gaze or because he just didn't care.

* * *

><p>"I need to talk to you about something" Rachel said as she walked into the HudsonHummel household, she placed her jacket carefully on the coat rack and walked into the living room.

Sam was certainly curious as to what Rachel had come by to talk to _him _about. "I need to ask you something."

He sat down at the opposite end of the couch to her, not wanting to be close to her. He never knew what he might do if he got too close to her. "Okay" he said quietly.

Rachel's long dark lashes fluttered nervously as she opened her mouth "Last year, when you and me, we had that _thing._"

Sam had not been expecting her to talk about this with him, when she had broken things off she'd barely spoken to him then so months on he wasn't exactly expecting her to talk about with him.

He swallowed hard "When we were together" Rachel continued, unsure of what to say "Do you ever think about it?" she asked him, her voice was soft vulnerable as she stared at him.

Sam wanted to tell her that he thought about it ever second that he was awake and probably at least half the seconds that he was asleep. He wanted to tell her that he never had time to think about anyone else, or being with anyone other than her. That she was the stars that he looked for in the sky at night and the sun that he waited to rise in the day time. But he didn't know if that's what she wanted to hear. Maybe Rachel was just here to get closure and she wanted him to say that he was okay, over her, that she never even crossed his mind.

He licked his lips nervously "Sometimes" was his response.

Rachel felt her heart beat speed up "And what do you think?" she asked her, she was on the verge of crying, or laughing or totally losing it.

Sam breathed deeply "I don't know" he said "I don't know what you want from me Rachel" he admitted, his eyes searched hers for some sort of answer.

She looked down quickly "I'm sorry, for the way I treated you" she whispered.

He shook his head "It's okay, you were confused, I know that it was a hard time for you" he told her. He did know that, but it hurt like hell when she cut him out off her life without an explanation.

Rachel felt the first tear slide down her blushed cheek "I'm sorry" she whispered again.

Sam moved closer without a second's hesitation, he placed his arm around her shoulder, his fingers resting on the top of her arm. Her head found the familiar crook in his body. His heart was beating so fast that he felt as if he was running and not merely sitting with her. He didn't want this to be goodbye, he wanted to hold her again, _love_ her again.

"Rachel I… I never stopped, you know, thinking about you" he told her, his voice was quiet, fretful, he still wasn't sure that he should be telling her any of this.

She looked up at him, her face a mixture of beauty and sadness "Sam I…"

Someone was letting themselves into the house through the front door; Rachel tried to quickly gain her composure as she pulled away from Sam, her hands wiping away any trace of tears. With one last lingering look she placed a smile on her face to greet whoever had just come in.

Sam watched Rachel have a frenzied conversation with Finn's mom about something. He couldn't hear what she was saying, he couldn't hear anything, and it was like the pain was blocking everything else out around him. He shut his eyes; he just wanted to be okay again. But as long as Rachel looked at him the way she just had, he knew he never would be.

* * *

><p>"Okay so bachelorette parties are kind of lame when you aren't anywhere near twenty one" Quinn said holding up a giant pink balloon.<p>

Mercedes laughed "Hey at least we tried" she said. They had tried to create a girly haven for Rachel's bachelorette party, but so far they had just filled Quinn's living room with balloons and a buffet consisting of carrot sticks and cucumber. It didn't look promising.

Quinn sighed "We should have just let Kurt arrange this" she grumbled, as the balloon connected to her hair with static.

"He can't, he wanted to go to the bachelor party" Mercedes reminded her friend.

"Which is even weirder, what exactly is he going to do there?" she asked.

Mercedes shrugged "I don't know" she admitted, grinning at the thought of her friend watching a female stripper.

Quinn sat down on the floor crossing her legs " 'Cedes do you think this whole thing is a bad idea?" she asked her friend, a wrinkle appearing on her forehead.

Her friend looked at her "The party? Or the wedding?" she asked, twirling a streamer with a pair of scissors.

Quinn nodded "The whole thing" she said.

"I don't know, for a long time I honestly believed that Finn and Rachel would be together forever, but I found something out that kind of changed my mind" Mercedes told Quinn. She wasn't sure if Quinn knew about the whole Rachel and Sam thing yet.

The blonde looked at her expectantly "Tell me" she said "If it's important than I need to know it."

Mercedes sighed "Rachel and Sam had a little bit of thing, when Rachel found out about Finn and Santana last year" she said.

Quinn's eyes widened "I can't believe that Rachel never told me that!" she said "But still if she and Finn weren't together then why does it even matter? Unless she still likes Sam" Quinn said questioningly.

"Well I don't know about Rachel, but I have it on good authority that Sam still likes her. Maybe even loves her."

Rachel leant against the wall outside the Fabray's living room, she had only been listening for a couple of seconds but it was obvious that they were talking about Sam, Sam and her. She took a deep breath, could it really be true that Sam was in love with her, until the other day it hadn't seemed like he even thought about her at all. But him and Mercedes were so close, she knew that if he was going to tell anyone about how he felt it would be her.

Sam downed a shot of tequila and gave a thumbs up signal to Finn who had been waiting for him to do it before he tried it. Finn downed his and coughed and spluttered half of it back out in shock.

"How do you do that?" Finn asked, "Just drink it like water?"

Sam shrugged "It's not that bad" he replied. It was probably because Sam had been hanging out with Puck a lot more lately and that involved drinking a lot more alcohol. He knew drinking copious amounts of alcohol wasn't the best way of getting rid of the pain, but it did work.

Finn had no idea that Sam and Rachel had ever dated, sometimes Sam wondered what Finn would do if did find out. Would he break up with her? Or would he just let it go? Sam had considered telling him, but he didn't want to hurt Rachel.

Sam sat down on couch that usually served as his bed in Finn and Kurt's basement. It had turned been turned into a western themed bar by Kurt and Blaine earlier that day. It was pretty cool looking.

"What's wrong man?" Mike asked sitting down next to him.

Sam shrugged "You're so lucky man, you found the girl that you wanted and you got her" he mumbled into his cup.

Mike looked confused "Are you wasted already?" he asked.

Sam laughed "Not exactly, just thinking" he said.

"Well if you want the girl you have to go out and get her. You should tell her how you feel. What's the worst that could happen?" Mike said.

If only Mike knew, the worst that could happen? Rachel could reject him, marry Finn in front of all their friends and hate him forever. Finn could find out and kick him out of his house and punch him in the face. The entire former glee club would hate him. There was no way that he could tell Rachel how he felt without ruining everything that mattered to him.

* * *

><p>It was around midnight when Sam's phone buzzed to tell him that he had received a text.<p>

_I miss you_

That was all it said.


	8. December

**A.N.** Okay so this turned into one of those incredibly long chapters that I didn't intend to write so much in. I won't be doing anymore of the present day now until the actually wedding I think. I want to focus on their history now.

Thank you for reviewing! I'm sorry that you are all finding it so sad. I guess it is pretty depressing in the present day chapters. I can't help but enjoy the EvanBerry angst though!

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><p><em>December<em>

Sam took a deep breath before turning to his friend "I think you might need to chill out a little Rach" he said softly as he watched her walking up and down in front of him.

Rachel's head snapped up to look at him "Sam, I can't possibly be asked to calm down. This is the like the fourth most important event of the year" she told him sincerely.

Sam shook his head and chuckled "The fourth?" he asked with interest.

She nodded as if that was obvious "Well there's my birthday, regional's and Finn's birthday to consider, but I guess I can bump this up because it's not an annual thing" she told him, she had clearly been putting in a lot of extra thought into her calendar.

"Why am I even here?" Sam asked her curiously. Sure he had met Burt and Carole once or twice when he'd been over to Finn and Kurt's but he didn't understand why Rachel had asked him to help her pick out bridesmaid dresses. Not that he wasn't enjoying watching her parade around in cute outfits; it just seemed a little odd.

Rachel grinned at him "Because you're my friend silly" she told him. "Besides, Kurt is way too busy planning to help me, and I don't really have any girl friends" she admitted.

"Me neither" he mumbled, he was joking, sort of. He wasn't exactly interested in dating anyone when he was still confused about his feelings for Rachel.

"You're a great guy Sam. I'm sure that a nice girl will realise that and totally go out with you" she reassured him. Sam was awesome and he was quickly becoming one of her closest friends, he was like the sweetest guy that she had ever met in her entire life, and he was always looking at her like she was the most interesting person in the room.

Sam smiled "I like that one" he said commenting on the red dress she was wearing. There was no specific dress code for the bridesmaids other than the fact that the dress needed to be red. "You look good in red" he said quietly, a slight tinge of red flushing his cheeks.

Rachel grinned warmly at him "Thanks. I think it looks okay. I mean I know I won't look as good as the other girls" she mumbled.

Sam stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders "Don't be silly Rach. You always look beautiful, just like all the other girls. Except you have that extra Rachel Berry gold star added in" he told her grinning.

Rachel laughed and bit her lip "Thanks Sam" she said. "Could you do me a favour?" she asked.

"I thought I was already doing you a favour..." Sam said, taking his hands off her shoulders gently.

Rachel rolled her eyes at him "Could you unzip the dress for me?" she asked him, there was a certain amount of nervousness in her voice as she asked him.

Sam took a calculated breath as he nodded "Sure" he muttered. He moved so that he was behind her and Rachel slid her dark brown hair to one side that her neck was revealed, it took all of Sam's will not touch her neck, to brush the olive skin with his finger tips. His hand trembled slightly as he tugged at the zip, it fell down far enough for Rachel to reach herself and to reveal a tiny part of her bra, and Sam shut his eyes. "There you go" he said softly.

Rachel whispered a thank you to him before quickly moving back into the changing room, her heart thumping. He had barely even touched her and it felt as if every nerve in her body was short circuiting. She took a deep breath before she pulled off the dress

* * *

><p>"Wow Sam you scrub up nice" Mercedes said smiling at the blonde haired boy who was going to be escorting her down the aisle.<p>

Sam looked up a little embarrassed "Why thank you. Ms. Jones" he replied pulling at his collar "You are looking pretty good yourself" he told her with a wink.

Mercedes grinned at him. Sam was like the cutest guy she'd ever met, it was hard to decide if she wanted to adopt him like a puppy or make out with him. "Mi lady" he said putting his arm out to her.

She linked her arm with his as they made their way to the aisle. "So are you sad that Quinn isn't your date?" she asked him, Mercedes wasn't exactly sure what had happened between Quinn and Sam, even though she and Quinn were close, Quinn wasn't one to open up about her feelings.

Sam frowned at her "Not really. I mean I like her, but I don't know if I ever liked her enough for us to work out" he said decidedly.

Mercedes was surprised that Sam was being so honest with her about it, but he was the kind of guy that seemed to spill his feelings at the drop of a hat. "Oh I see" she replied, things were a little awkward now.

"So, what about you?" he asked.

Mercedes looked at him "Am I sad that Quinn's not my date?" she asked him, a playful grin on her face.

Sam laughed "Oh ha ha" he said "I meant don't you wish that you had a date that wasn't some massive mouthed dork like me?" he asked her.

"I think you're mouth's cute" Mercedes told him.

* * *

><p>Rachel's felt her throat go dry as she heard the words come out of Santana's mouth. She had to be lying, right? There was no possible way that Finn had been lying to her all this time. He wouldn't do that would he? Rachel covered her mouth with her hand and leant against the wall tears falling from her eyes. She didn't know what to do; she wasn't sure if she should go in there and confront them right now. Rachel forced herself to stand straight and she walked into the room.<p>

Finn eye's met hers and she knew she knew in that moment that it wasn't a lie. That he'd had been hiding this from her and that Santana had been the girl he'd wanted to lose his virginity to and not her. Rachel sucked in a heavy breath and the girl looked at her, her face wasn't twisted in its usual smirk, and if Rachel didn't know her she might have believed that she was sorry. But it didn't matter. None of it mattered anymore.

"Rachel. I am so sorry" Finn said, he was walking toward her, he reached for her hands and Rachel stepped away from him.

She shook her head "No" she mumbled. "I can't do this right now" she told him, her cheeks damp with tears.

Finn stared after her as she ran out of the room.

Rachel couldn't help but start to cry with more ferocity as she wrapped her arms around herself. She had to get out of there, she couldn't be at the reception anymore not with everyone so happy, so in love. Sam saw her before she saw him.

"Rachel what's wrong? What's happened?" he asked her, pulling her towards him carefully.

She shook her head "I can't talk about this" she whispered. She pulled her head up to look at him "Can you drive me home?" she asked him.

He nodded "Of course" he told her, he pulled his suit jacket off and placed it around her shoulders.

Rachel smiled thankfully at him as she pulled it tighter to her, the Sam's scent filling her head. She slid into the passenger seat beside him and felt another couple of tears fall from her eyes. Sam looked at her with a worried expression on his face, he had never seen anyone this upset before and he was a little scared for her.

When they reached her house he reached out to touch her before she got out "Are you going to be okay alone tonight?" he knew that her dad's weren't going to be around and that she was meant to be staying at Finn's.

Rachel looked at him, she hadn't really thought about the fact that she'd be alone and be able to rake over everything that had ever happened between her and Finn. "Um" she mumbled.

Sam shook his head "Come on. Stay at my house, my parents will understand" he told her.

Rachel nodded "Thank you Sam" she whispered.

He smiled at her; he used the pad of his thumb to wipe away the tears that were resting on her cheeks. "Please don't cry Rachel" he murmured.

Sam's mom had been pretty worried about Rachel when they had arrived at his house. "Are you sure you're okay sweetheart?" she asked as she led Rachel to the guest bedroom.

Rachel nodded "Yes thank you so much Mrs Evan's, I really appreciate this" she said.

Mrs Evan's nodded "It's not a problem; I know that you're important to Sam so I'm happy to have you here" she told her. "Here are some night clothes and there's a new toothbrush in the en suite. I hope you sleep okay" she told Rachel smiling at her.

Rachel smiled in spite of her broken heart "This is really good of you, thank you so much."

Mrs Evan's nodded "Goodnight Rachel."

* * *

><p>Sam was having trouble getting to sleep knowing that Rachel was only one room away from him. Not only because he was worried about her, but because of other <em>things<em> too. He couldn't stop imagining her, lying there. He actually berated himself for even thinking about that with her so upset. He knew that Finn had something to do with it, because otherwise he'd be the one looking after her.

"Sam" he a heard a quiet voice say from his doorway.

He sat in bed suddenly acutely aware of the fact he was only wearing boxers at that moment. Superman boxers at that. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice moving quietly in the darkness.

Rachel moved closer, "I don't want to sleep alone" she whispered.

Sam found himself smile "You can sleep in here if you want. I'll sleep on the floor" he told her.

"No don't be silly, we can share" she told him, he felt her move the covers from the other side of the bed, she slid in beside him. Their bodies almost touching. Sam could feel the heat radiating from her.

"Night Rachel" he said softly.

Rachel rolled over so that they were facing each other "Night Sam."

* * *

><p>Sam woke up the next morning his face almost completely buried in Rachel's hair; somehow during the night Rachel had managed to wrap herself almost completely around him. Sam had this odd mixture of happiness and sadness inside him as he stared at the sleeping frame of the girl in front of him.<p>

Sam moved himself carefully out of bed and pulled a t-shirt over his head. He walked sleepily down the stairs in his house and into his kitchen. "Morning mom" he said brightly. His mom was standing at the cooker making breakfast while his younger siblings were squabbling about something at the dining room table.

"Hey guys be quiet, it is way too fighting with each other" he told them ruffling their hair in turn.

Stacy gave him a lopsided grin "We weren't fighting Sammy. We were just wondering how come you got to have a sleepover last night" she told him her bottom lip jutting out forcefully.

Stevie gave him a look "It's so not fair" he said grumpily.

Sam shook his head "It was an emergency sleepover guys. My friend needed somewhere to stay" he told them.

His mom handed him a plate "I made pancakes for you" she told him "I got Rachel some toast, I wasn't sure what vegans couldn't eat" she said.

He smiled at her "That's great mom. Thanks."

Rachel woke up spread across Sam's bed. She breathed in and smelt the familiar scent of his aftershave. It was a nice smell; she felt herself smiling before she remembered what she had learnt the day before. She immediately felt sick, as she got out of bed. She was feeling really cold all of a sudden, so she pulled on a sweater that was located near the bed. It had a picture of The Avengers on it; she pulled it over her head, not worried about the way her hair looked.

She walked downstairs and found Sam shoveling pancakes into his mouth while his brother and sister bombarded him with questions. Suddenly their attention was drawn to her as she entered the room.

"Hi Rachel" Stacy said "You're hair is really pretty" Stacy said staring at Rachel wide eyed.

Rachel doubted that was true but she smiled anyway "Thank you, I like your hair clips" she replied.

Stacy's grin was mega watt as she watched Rachel sit down.

Stevie narrowed his eyes at her "That's Sammy's favourite sweater" he said staring at her.

Rachel looked down "Oh I was cold" she mumbled.

Sam smiled at her "Don't worry its okay that you wearing it" he told her. "Really."

"You never let me wear it" Stevie mumbled, moodily pushing his breakfast around the plate.

Mrs Evan's placed some toast in front of her "I don't know what vegans have with toast Rachel, but that's soy bread. Is that ok?" she asked.

Rachel nodded "That's great, I'll just have it with some of this" she said holding up a jar of marmalade and grinning at Sam's mom.

Stacy stared at Rachel for a while before opening her mouth "Can I plait your hair after breakfast?" she asked, staring at Rachel's long shiny brown hair with interest.

Rachel wiped bread crumbs from her lips she didn't really know a lot about kids, she didn't have any siblings and she never really encountered them, but what harm could letting a seven year old plait your hair do? "Sure, if you want to" she told her.

Stacy grinned "Mommy never lets me do it anymore, not after last time" she said, Rachel looked regretful "But that was an accident. Your hair is going to look beautiful. Like Cindy Lou" she told Rachel.

The brunette raised her eyebrows at Sam and mouthed "Cindy Lou who?" at him.

Sam immediately started to laugh "Cindy Lou Who, from The Grinch" he told her. "With the hair in plaits and the big teeth" he explained.

Rachel slid her tongue over her teeth subconsciously "I have big teeth?" she asked him worriedly.

He shook his head "I didn't mean you" he said "I meant the character. You have lovely teeth" he reassured her.

She smiled at him "Thanks so do you" she said.

Stevie made a retching noise "I'm trying to eat my breakfast here" he moaned.

Sam smiled at his brother "Don't worry Stevie you have great teeth as well. If you want we can read the new Spiderman comic while Stacey ruins – I mean plaits Rachel's hair" he told him.

Stevie nodded "I guess that'd be okay" he said a small smile appearing on his face.

* * *

><p>Rachel winced as she tried to take out some of the half a dozen glittery hair slides that were now tangled in her hair. Stacy had been defiant that all of them were necessary to make her look 'totally princessy' as she had put it.<p>

Sam leant over from where he was sitting "Do you want me to help you?" he asked her. "I've had experience with this situation myself" he told her.

Rachel looked at him "You let Stacy do this to your hair?" she asked him.

Sam shrugged "She's kind of demanding sometimes. I think it's a girl thing" he replied, he gently took out one of the hair clips as he peered at Rachel's hair.

"I think it's nice, how close you are" she told him.

"I mean it's a little weird because they are a lot younger than me, but they're pretty cool _sometimes_" he said. "Do you ever wish you had brothers and sisters?" he asked her.

Rachel shrugged "I think I'm probably high maintenance enough for like five children" she admitted.

Sam chuckled softly "That might be true."

"Finn had sex with Santana" Rachel said suddenly, her heart breaking at even the sound of those words.

Sam stopped trying to untangle her hair "What?" he asked. "Why would he do that?" he asked. I mean Sam had noticed the obvious appeal of Santana, she was really hot, but he kind of got the impression that she was into _someone. _

Rachel shrugged turning to face Sam "Because she's prettier than me. And she's a cheerio. Why wouldn't he want to lose his virginity to someone like that?"

Sam stared at the petite brunette sitting in front of him, he wanted nothing more than to show her how desirable she was, but he knew that wasn't what she needed right now. She needed him to be a good friend, to show her that she was a good person that deserved so much better than someone like Finn.

"Rachel, you're amazing. You deserve so much better, you deserve someone who realises what he has when he has you. He has a girl that is beautiful and talented and _loves _him. That's better than any cheerleader Rachel." Sam slid his arm around her waist and she let her head fall on his shoulder, her cheeks stained with tears as she nestled into him.

"Do you want to watch Funny Face?" he asked her, smiling at her.

Rachel looked at him "It's at my house" she mumbled.

Sam grinned "I actually bought my own copy" he told her, biting his lip, his cheeks flushing slightly.

Rachel's mouth widened in surprise "We don't have to watch it Sam. Besides you were supposed to show me one of your favourite movies." Rachel had disconnected from the hugging position they were in and was now looking through Sam's DVD collection. "You have a lot of comic book movies" she commented.

"I'm kind of a fan" he told her shyly, suddenly nervous that she was analysing his movie collection.

She nodded "Let's watch this one" she said, picking out the first X-Men movie. "I've never seen any of these." She told him.

Sam looked at her and shook his head "Never seen X-Men. I can't believe that. I bet if they burst into song at random intervals you'd have been first in line at the movie theatre" he told her as he placed the DVD in the player.

"Wait." Rachel said suddenly. "Before we watch this, do you mind if I shower? I know it's kind of rude to do that at someone else's house, but I feel kind of gross."

"Sure you can. There are towels in there, clothes might be problematic though." He considered things for a moment "I'll ask my mom if she has anything."

Sam disappeared from the room and Rachel slid his sweater over her head and folded it, placing it neatly on his chair. She peered at his desk and saw pictures of him in a school uniform lining the wall behind it. He looked really cute in his slightly too big blazer; he probably wouldn't have any trouble filling out now. Rachel shook that thought from her head, she walked into his en suite bathroom and removed the rest of her borrowed clothes, and it was a little weird being naked in someone else's house. She got into the shower and turned the faucet on letting the water run over her.

Sam walked back into his bedroom and immediately went over to the bathroom; he assumed that like him Rachel would have turned it on to get the right temperature, so he'd quickly tell her that he had something for her to change into it. He was of course shocked when he went in discovered and seventeen year old girl, wet and naked in his shower. Sam swallowed hard and just stared for a couple of seconds, suddenly realising how weird it was he quickly exited the room, the door shutting loudly behind him.

"So..." Rachel began as she came out of the bathroom her body carefully concealed under a towel, her hair a little damp. "Did you just walk in on me, in the... _shower?" _she asked.

Sam was sitting on his desk chair covering his face with his hands, his face was beet red. "I am so sorry Rachel. I didn't realise you were in there yet. I mean I knew you were in the room, I just didn't know you were... _naked."_ Sam made a groaning sound as he covered his face again.

Rachel couldn't help but smile at him, he was so embarrassed. She bit her lip "Sam, it's not a big deal. I mean as a future actress I need to get used to people seeing me in unusual situations. Not that showering is unusual for me, I do it daily, sometimes more than once" she twittered on and on.

Sam was grateful at that moment that Rachel never stopped talking, because at least it meant that he could stop thinking about her being naked.

Rachel moved closer to him, there was much space between them now. Then she did something that surprised them both, she leant towards him and kissed him slow and soft on the mouth.

Sam was so surprised that he barely had a chance to respond to her before she pulled away from him. "Why did you do that?" he whispered.

"I was nervous. Kissing makes me less nervous" she explained with a shrug, leaning forward again she captured his mouth with hers. This time Sam was more than ready as he clasped her hips as she positioned herself on his lap, her hand gripping his neck.

Sam pulled his mouth away momentarily, rubbing his noise against hers "Rachel, are you sure you want to do this? You and Finn just broke up, are you sure you're ready t be kissing some other guy?" he asked her.

Rachel smiled at him, admiring his concern for her hurt feelings "I want to kiss _you _Sam. And you aren't just some other guy." Rachel stood up slowly and she took his hand in hers, she led him over to his bed. "I want to do more than kissing" she whispered her heart fluttering as Sam dipped his mouth to her neck to kiss her there.

"Are you sure?" he murmured, his breath tickling her skin.

Rachel nodded and in one swift moment dropped the towel that had been covering her. Sam let his eyes rake over her body in a way he thought he'd never be able to, he took in the perfect swell of her breast and the smooth skin on her stomach. His eyes paused for a moment, as he pulled his own t-shirt off. Rachel felt instantly more relaxed as she admired Sam's perfect shape. "Kiss me" she commanded almost urgently. Sam did as he was told, although somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that it wasn't really about him and her sharing this at all. This was about Finn and probably a about _revenge, _but he wasn't thinking sensibly, he was just thinking about Rachel.

* * *

><p>Damn, did that just happen?<p>

I totally didn't expect it myself but it felt kind of natural when I was writing this part.

Let me know what you think!

Also follow me on tumblr here - . (I'll follow back) and you can even send me fic prompts there!


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